The Old College Try
by BouncingKappa
Summary: AU! Bucky Barnes is a fifth-year college senior with no big future plan, just how he likes it. Then he meets Sadie Reid a Type-A pre-med student armed with a color-coded planner and a sense of humor drier than his. Somehow, between their meddling friends and looming adulthood, Bucky begins to realize that a future plan isn't so daunting after all, especially if Sadie is involved.
1. Coffee Thieves and Setups

A/N: So, if you're reading this and you're also a reader of Songbirds and Bombshells…DON'T WORRY! I haven't given up on S&B, I'm currently drafting Chapter 14, but it's taking longer than expected and to be honest, I needed a bit of a break. Hence, this little AU featuring Sadie and Bucky. A little writing exercise turned into this and I was having so much fun writing that I decided to turn it into a six-part mini fic while I continue to plug away at Songbirds.

So, I love school and I particularly loved my senior year of college and parts of this story are taken directly from my own early twenties…and the college town (unnamed for the time being) is inspired by Fayetteville, Arkansas, where I lived for a time.

Anyway, unlike Songbirds, this fic is purely for fun so expect lots of banter and lots of fluff! There are warnings for language, however. If anyone really wants me to, I'll up the rating, but for now it's just fine at a T.

Finally, I'm going to be pulling in Marvel characters for little cameos here and there…if there's anyone you want to see or think would be funny, just let me know! A million thanks to Stencil Your Heart for betaing and to Mopargirl1, who always listens to my crazy ideas.

Disclaimer – I don't own Captain America. I do own Sadie, Evie, Betty, and everything else you don't recognize!

The Old College Try

Part One – Coffee Thieves and Setups

All Sadie Reid wanted was a twenty-ounce iced non-fat latte and in record time. What the she got was a line that stretched nearly to the door and the sinking feeling that she just might, would probably, definitely be running late. Punctuality was a particularly strong suit of Sadie's; she was always the first to arrive at restaurants to meet friends and had to force herself to be comfortable showing up late to parties. This obsession with timeliness especially applied to two things: school and work. Sadie was never late to summer jobs or any class, never prepared with a breathless half-apology, and never made insincere promises that it would never happen again. But, Sadie Reid also never dared to start her morning without her ritual cup of coffee. Despite knowing it was scientifically impossible, she'd begun to think that her body might literally shut down without her usual morning latte.

And so, Sadie found herself in the midst of an existential crisis as the line painfully dwindled painfully slowly. Skip her morning coffee and make it to class on time? Or accept that nobody was perfect and get her coffee anyway? The options dug down to the very core of Sadie's Type A personality. She hated breaking routine and she hated being late. But this morning, late was the lesser of two evils and so she slipped her backpack off one shoulder and dug her wallet out of the top zippered pocket.

Rocking up and down on the balls of her feet, Sadie now turned her mind to exactly who was to blame for her inexcusable lateness. Perhaps she could blame her roommate, Peggy Carter, for keeping her up too late last night with a pint of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and a bottle of cheap white wine. It could possibly be Evelyn Lewis and Betty Carnahan's fault for drunk dialing Sadie at the tender hour of two-thirty in the morning, singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" at the top of their lungs. But Sadie knew who the real culprit was.

Her mother texted Sadie before her alarm went off with a cheery message, luring her into the false sense of security. "Happy last first day of college! Love you!" the message had said, followed by six smiley faces wearing sunglasses. Half asleep and not in her right mind, Sadie made the single biggest mistake of her morning. She'd texted back. "Thanks mom! Love you too!"

Sadie's phone rang two minutes before her alarm went off, and she sat up in her bed, pushing her waves of espresso and plum hair out of her face. Immediately, she recognized her grave mistake. But it was too late now; her mother knew she was awake and would not rest until Sadie answered. When her mother asked Sadie what she planned to wear on her last first day, Sadie made the further mistake of cavalierly saying running shorts and a t-shirt, because what else would she wear? What followed was a painful exercise in Sadie's mother mentally rifling through the back of Sadie's closet where she shoved all the expensive clothes that came in care packages from home with passive aggressive suggestions that maybe Sadie would have a boyfriend if she took thirty extra minutes every morning to do her hair and dressed like she cared.

It took a pair of skinny jeans, silk floral tank, and a pair of t-strap sandals to mollify her mother into hanging up. By the time Sadie tossed her phone into her backpack and considered changing, she was already ten minutes behind schedule. Sadie had been hurriedly twisting her hair into a messy top knot when her roommate, Peggy, came out of her bedroom and arched a brow in surprise at the sight of Sadie dressed in actual pants.

"Did the university change its dress code?" Peggy wondered aloud, prompting Sadie to flip Peggy off before she grabbed her backpack and sprinted out of the door, only to slip and fall as a result of her incredibly inconvenient sandals. Her only saving grace was the garage parking pass her mother insisted Sadie needed if she was going to be studying on campus late at night. So she raced to campus and rushed to The Beanery, the local coffee shop on the East side of campus, only to find the line packed with nervous freshmen, carrying their brand-new backpacks and chattering about orientation and getting lost on the way to the student union from their dorm.

Yes, thought Sadie darkly, this was all her mother's fault. Curse southern women and their stupid southern stubbornness, she thought hopelessly. She'd gone to college halfway across the country in part to get away from that world; the world where girls dressed up for football games and their lives revolved around collecting their baker's dozen future bridesmaids for their chic barn weddings. It was a life she'd never wanted and her mother willingly accepted that, but not without some fight along the way.

At long last, it was her turn and she stepped up to the counter, pulling her credit card out of her wallet as she did. Hastily, she ordered and stepped away to the other side of the counter, shifting her way between a knot of freshmen as she did.

Her phone buzzed in her back pocket and she pulled it out. Unbidden to her, a smirk tugged at her lips - it was Evie.

I think I'm dying. You're going to be a doctor, how can I tell if I'm dying?

Sadie fought the urge to laugh. Her steely grey eyes flickered up to see a guy leave the counter, shoving his wallet into the back of his jeans. His blue eyes were set beneath his long-ish chestnut hair and he hadn't shaved in a couple of days. Handsome, she thought absently, and she looked away from him as his eyes casually settled on her. Instead, she returned to focusing on Evie's text message.

Don't quote me on it, but I'm pretty sure that you can't die from a hangover.

I want a second opinion.

That wasn't a first opinion. Drink a shit ton of water, take two painkillers, EAT SOMETHING, and stop drinking so much! And if all else fails, try a little hair of the dog.

I'm never drinking again…I think I'm going to puke.

Sadie rolled her eyes. If she had a dollar for every time she heard that excuse, her undergrad loans would be paid for. Sadie put her phone away just as the barista called her order. She forced her way up to the counter just as the blue eyed, long-haired guy grabbed her coffee. Well, that just wasn't going to do.

"Hey! That's my coffee!" She said just as he began to turn away.

The guy pivoted back and Sadie's train of thought only narrowly escaped derailment. Handsome didn't do this coffee-stealer justice. He wore his plaid shirt like it was tailor made for him and his shoulders were deceptively broad. Confusion and amusement danced in his piercing blue eyes as he took her in.

"This is a large non-fat latte, right? That's what I ordered."

Non-fat? Sadie wasn't sure this guy had an ounce of fat on his body. Shoving aside the sarcastic comment about his preference for non-fat milk, she pointed to the cup. "That's my order too and I ordered before you. I'm no genius, but if I ordered first then that's my drink."

He smiled at her, showing off as many of his straight white teeth as he could. Sadie forcefully ignored the slight uptick in her pulse. Why were all the handsome ones inexcusable jerks? "Hey Connie, who was this latte for?"

The barista, a miniature girl with flowing brown hair and enormous doe eyes looked up from the espresso machine. "For you, Bucky. Can't forget one of my best customers!"

Several choice words about what kind of services this Bucky was actually purchasing danced on the tip of her tongue. Instead she stared between the two, slack-jawed. Is this what passed for customer service on the East side of campus? No wonder she avoided the East Campus like the plague.

"See? A simple mix-up. But since you're clearly in a hurry, go ahead and take it," he said and held the cup out to her.

Sadie looked at him dubiously. "You're kidding," she said. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the barista had returned to her coffee-making. "A hot girl makes your order out of line and you're just going to give it to a stranger?"

He shrugged. "I think we both know you need it more than I do."

Sadie wasn't even going to try and argue against him. Instead, she took the coffee, their fingers lightly brushing. "Thanks," she said, still not entirely convinced. When he didn't say anything else, Sadie took a few steps backwards before giving him a painfully awkward half-wave and then rushed out of The Beanery, destined for one of the last places on earth she wanted to be: Philosophy 2203.

X X X

Did you make it to class? Or am I going to have to talk you out of driving all the way to Little Rock just so you can yell at your mother and burn your outfit in effigy?

Peggy's text message came to Sadie's phone just as she slipped into a seat near the back of the large lecture hall in Hartford Hall. As the main building for the philosophy, English, and political science departments, Sadie only stepped foot in Hartford Hall when she absolutely had to. Philosophy 2203 was the final class she needed to complete her thirty-five hours of core requirements, the base upon which her ultimate degree was built. To say that Sadie had been dreading spending three mornings of her week trapped in a lecture hall with two hundred underclassmen and the handful of humanities-averse upperclassmen was probably the understatement of her year. She literally couldn't imagine a worse hell on earth.

Fortunately, Hartford Hall had been recently renovated and each row of the large hall had been refurbished with long, continuous tables and comfortable rolling chairs. Sadie set her laptop on the table and tried to get comfortable, shooting an uneasy glance at her possibly tainted coffee. She grabbed her phone to text Peggy back.

It's a tempting idea, but no. I like to get my passive aggressive revenge in other ways, like never wearing the clothes she sends and eating non-gluten-free non-paleo chocolate chip cookies.

You're a regular rebel, you are.

Sadie grinned, putting her phone on silent and trading it for her planner, one of the only useful things her mother sent her in her care packages. Flipping open the cover of the white and gold striped book to the current day, Sadie reviewed the various notes she'd jotted down all of which were color-coded to satisfy her borderline pathological need for order. She had one other class and a lab later in the day and had a meeting with her advisor to review her schedule one last time.

Just as she began writing out a grocery list in the page's list for to-do items, a voice interrupted her.

"Hey, do you have a pen?"

Startlingly familiar, Sadie turned around to say yes and stopped short. It was him, the shady coffee guy from The Beanery, not ten minutes ago. He was standing in the mostly empty row behind her, grinning from ear to ear. With the exception of his cup of coffee, he didn't have a single other item on his body, no backpack on his shoulder, not even a notebook tucked under his arm. Without thinking, the first words that popped into Sadie's mind came tumbling out of her lips.

"What are you going to do? Doodle on the table all class long?"

Her eyes grew wide, stunned at her own snark. But his smile broadened while he sipped his coffee, not breaking his eye contact with her. God, he had the bluest eyes she had ever seen. "In that case, do you have a piece of paper I can borrow?"

Sadie shook her head in open astonishment before she slowly turned around, in complete disbelief and not even willing to dignify him with a response. Who was this guy? She'd run into plenty of slackers in her time, but he really took the cake. And then, he did something that almost sent her running for the door. He leaned across is table, holding his coffee out.

"Can you hold this for me?"

Too stunned to refuse his request, Sadie took his cup of coffee and watched, absolutely floored as he swung his long legs over his table and hopped down into her row. He plopped down into the seat next to her, still wearing his shit-eating grin. "I'm Bucky Barnes," he said and held his hand out.

Sadie, unsure if he wanted her to shake it or not, settled on shoving his coffee back at him. Bucky's shoulders shook in silent laughter, clearly pleased that he'd found such an easy target for his antics. "Do you still want that pen?" She asked acerbically, unsure of what else to say in the face of his shameless bravado.

"Nah," he replied, drawing out the word. "It's syllabus day. But I will take your name," he added as he raked his fingers through his shining chestnut hair.

Sadie wasn't sure if she wanted to give him any further ammunition. "I think I'm good without you knowing that," she said slowly, swiveling away from him and wondering how on earth she was going to explain this to her friends.

"After I gave you my coffee? That hardly seems fair."

"It's Sadie," she said, refusing to look at him. "And to be fair it should have been my coffee. Just because you're, you know, whatever, with the barista doesn't mean you should get special treatment."

"Sadie," he tried said, testing the weight of her name on his tongue. Avidly, Sadie wished his voice wasn't so smooth and pleasant to listen to. Her name sounded dangerously good coming out of his mouth. "Nice name. It suits you. And for the record, I don't think there's a rule that says you have to be served in order. People who buy regular coffee get served immediately. Maybe you should make the switch."

The tips of her fingers literally itched to smack the smirk right off his face. He leaned back in his chair, perfectly comfortable as he stretched his long legs in front of him. Bucky's jeans fit him obnoxiously well and Sadie even liked the beat up white converse tennis shoes he wore - it all seemed to fit his devil-may-care attitude.

"Well, they should make it a rule," she grumbled, wishing she hadn't taken that stupid cup of coffee.

The professor walked into the front of the lecture hall carrying a file box, which Sadie assumed held the syllabus and several other course documents. Ignoring Bucky, she opened her computer to a fresh Word document and waited for the professor to begin his lecture.

"Besides," said Bucky under his breath, leaning too close to Sadie for her comfort. Did this guy not know what a personal bubble was? "Connie isn't my, how did you so artfully put it? My you know, whatever anything. We're friends and she likes to give me free coffee. Is that a crime?"

"You do realize I don't know you and couldn't possibly care less whether you're whatever or anything or nothing with anyone, right?"

Bucky shrugged and Sadie dared to look at him out of the corner of her eye. "You seemed pretty concerned."

"I'm not," she snapped. "Will you please stop talking? I'd like to actually learn something." That was a bold-faced lie. Sadie would have to actively try to find even a single cell in her body that actually cared about philosophy. But Bucky didn't need to know that, else she might wind up having to listen to him for the rest of the class.

"From the syllabus?" He asked in a too-innocent voice. A furious flush swirled onto the back of Sadie's neck and into her cheeks. "So, Sadie. What is your major? Clearly it's not fine arts or humanities."

"What makes you think it's not?" She hissed.

"Because you've got that giant 'fuck off' stamp across your forehead that I usually see when I try to talk to engineering majors," he said casually holding his fingers up in a rectangle near her head for effect. Sadie's jaw dropped and then, against her will and better judgment, a smile pulled at her lips and she raised her fingers in a vain attempt to hide it. Bucky arched an eyebrow, one side of his mouth lifting in a smirk. "What?" He asked

She shook her head and returned her gaze to the front of the room as the professor began to speak, but not before leaving him with one parting shot. "You're kind of a dick."

Bucky coughed to muffle his laughter, but he never got the chance to speak again. Sadie spent most of class reviewing the syllabus, reading assignments, exam percentages, and other class requirements as the professor droned on. But, she was vaguely aware that Bucky spent the entire hour with his feet propped up on the empty chair on his other side, drinking his coffee and not glancing once at the syllabus. When the clock finally struck 9:20, Professor Bellgrave released them and Sadie packed her things, pointedly ignoring the fact that Bucky was still there.

As she slung her backpack onto her shoulders she looked up to see that he was neatly folding his syllabus into a small rectangle before shoving it into the back pocket of his jeans. "Same time Wednesday?" He asked, lazy amusement touching his words.

Sadie graced him with a humorless smirk. "How about no," she said before turning on her heel and leaving the classroom.

"Looking forward to it!" Bucky called after her.

Sadie didn't want to smile as she walked away, but she did all the same.

X X X

Sure enough, Sadie saw Bucky at The Beanery again on Wednesday morning and she was painfully aware that he followed her straight into Hartford Hall and plopped down next to her. At least he'd thought to bring a spiral notebook and a pen, though how he would ever deconstruct his sparse chicken scratch notes, Sadie would never know. He'd attempted conversation with her again, and she did her best to ignore him, answering only in one and two word sentences as much as possible. Sadie thought (perhaps foolishly) that if she ignored him, Bucky would get the memo that she didn't like him. Instead, Bucky found her behavior all the more entertaining and on Friday he continued his verbal barrage.

Nerves thoroughly raked raw, Sadie finally relented and shot a glance at him, immediately wishing she hadn't. That Friday he wore a light blue plaid shirt open over a light gray V-neck t-shirt, the point drug down by his wayfarer sunglasses hanging down from the collar.

"What the hell kind of a name is Bucky anyway?" She'd asked, earning his snort of amused laughter.

"It's a nickname," he said as though it were plainly obvious.

"I'd gotten that far, oddly enough," drawled Sadie while she scrolled through Wednesday's notes to get to a new page. "A nickname for what?"

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," he teased lightly, unwilling to let her have the upper hand.

Sadie rolled her eyes and thought better of ignoring him, as she already knew it would do little to no good. "Sarah Grace Reid," she relented at length.

"Why call yourself Sadie? Sarah Grace is a nice name."," said Bucky.

Sadie arched an eyebrow and peered at him through the lenses of her reading glasses, which made him look slightly distorted, much to her amusement. "My dad just started calling me Sadie one day and it stuck," she said, refusing to divulge any more than that.

"Well, Sarah Grace," he said emphatically and Sadie got the distinct impression that telling him not to call her that would only encourage him to do the total opposite. "Since you so bluntly asked, my name is James Buchanan Barnes. But I've been Bucky my whole life."

Sadie spluttered at him. Bluntly asked? Had he not spent all of Wednesday trying to wheedle her major out of her? Asking how many different pens she used to color code her planner? Wondering aloud if she was actually going to do all of the assigned reading? Scowling, Sadie had done her best to let the conversation end after that, internally grumbling that his first name was James. She loved that name.

The final straw for Sadie came when he picked up her copy of The Metaphysics of Healing, where she'd set off the assigned reading section with colored paper clips along with the upcoming reading. A few colored tabs stuck out at odd intervals, perfectly straight with the edge of the book. Against her protests, he'd flipped open the book to discover her meticulous highlighting and notes jotted in the margins.

"Holy shit," he'd said, stunned. "You're one of those students aren't you?"

"I don't know what you mean," she snapped, snatching the book back.

"Oh my God you are," he said in a hushed and rushed voice, holding his fist over his mouth to hide his sheer delight. "You know I'd heard of people like you but I thought you were myths, like unicorns and light beer that doesn't taste like shit. I bet you color code every class and you review your notes after every one."

Sadie could feel the furious blush swirl into her cheeks and she stammered incoherently, but it was far too late. Damn him to the very depths of hell, because Bucky had gotten her spot-on. "How I study is none of your business," she snarled at him.

But Bucky's euphoria could not be contained. "Have you ever gotten anything below an A-minus in your life? Please, please tell me you aren't one of those students who argues with their professor over every missed point on an exam."

Instead of responding, Sadie grabbed her stuff and moved two seats down the row from him, fuming the entire time. For the entire rest of the class she had a difficult time concentrating as Bucky turned his chair to face hers, feet up on the table while he grinned wickedly at her the entire time. She had never hated someone as much as she hated Bucky in that moment.

X X X

By the time Friday night rolled around, Sadie did something she rarely ever did. She stormed into her apartment and woke Peggy up from her nap. Peggy, the human embodiment of an English Rose, raised her head groggily from the couch, chocolate brown curls spilling over her shoulder.

"What?" She asked, British accent thicker from sleep.

"How do you feel about Thai food and drinks at The Eighteenth?"

That got Peggy's attention. The London native had a particular affinity for Thai food and never turned down the opportunity when presented. She nodded as she sat up, yawning. "Rough week?"

"I don't even know where to start," said Sadie as she dropped her backpack on the floor at the foot of her bed and stripped off her t-shirt and running shorts. Padding into the bathroom, she turned the shower on and peeled the headband off her head before pulling her hair out of its messy bun. Peggy wisely chose not to ask and instead got up to get ready, texting Evie and Betty as she did.

After dinner as Taste of Thailand, Peggy and Sadie went to The Eighteenth, their favorite bar on Ninth Street, the bar district closest to campus. By the time they wound their way to a high top table on the rooftop patio, Sadie's mood had improved considerably. She managed to eat away the worst of her week with Pad See-Ew and listening to Peggy talk animatedly about her classes and the gossip she'd picked up from her end of campus. An International Relations and Political Science double major, Peggy was headed for an ivy league law school next fall, and then probably to take over the planet.

At length they talked about two of Sadie's primary irritations, the first being that her Analytical Chemistry professor was a man by the name of Zola, an insufferable human being who loved the sound of his own voice almost as much as he loved tenure. Their conversation then turned to Sadie's pending early decision application with Columbia Medical School, and her advisor's well-meaning advice that Sadie should develop multiple backup plans should the worst happen come October. Somewhere in the back of Sadie's mind she knew that there was a chance she would get rejected by Columbia and she would be scrambling to complete applications to the rest of the schools at the top of her list. But having someone actually verbally confirm this reality was a different thing altogether.

Sadie planned and she planned and she planned, but she'd never not gotten something she really wanted. She had no idea how she would actually take that rejection if and when it happened.

Peggy, sensing her friend was on the verge of an academic meltdown, effortlessly steered the conversation down a new avenue. "So, what else? I know that Professor Zola and your Columbia application aren't enough for you to be this bent out of shape."

"Oh God! I've been meaning to tell you since yesterday! Do you remember that jerk I was telling you about in my philosophy class?" Sadie was about to launch into the full story when two girls appeared out of the crowd, each carrying three drinks in their hands.

"Hey!" Said Betty Carnahan, carefully setting her drinks down and sliding one of them over to Sadie.

Arching an eyebrow, Sadie looked at her gin and tonic and then at the fresh one. "What's this for?"

"Bar's a madhouse," said Evie Lewis, passing a class of Chardonnay to Peggy. "Better to get drinks two at a time rather than wait."

Peggy nodded in agreement. "Thanks! Though I doubt you'd ever have a problem getting a bartender's attention," she said, looking pointedly at the mint green dress Betty wore, the neckline plunging between her breasts.

Betty flashed her friend a smile and sat down, crossing one tanned leg over the other. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean," she said even as she looked around imperiously for her next target. Evie shot Sadie a long-suffering look and shook her head as if to say, "it's been like this all night."

Sadie met Evie and Betty on move-in day freshman year. The three girls all shared a suite with a fourth girl who made Sadie look downright rebellious. Bonding over their similar sarcastic senses of humor and their mutual confusion over Sadie's nearly silent, hermit roommate, the three formed an instant friendship. Evie and Betty had even convinced Sadie to rush a sorority with them, which lasted a grand total of a semester before Sadie gracefully bowed out, unable to handle the extra rules, date parties, matching t-shirts, and singing. Fortunately, her friendship with Evie and Betty had remained strong for three years.

They'd met then-exchange student Peggy Carter at the beginning of sophomore year. The quartet of girls became inseparable for the remainder of the school year, but Sadie and Peggy were especially close. She'd even gone to London with Peggy for most of the summer before junior year. Once Peggy came to Rhodes State University, she simply decided to stay, setting her sights on Harvard Law and an eventual job running the world on Capitol Hill. Evie and Betty lived in a house with two of their sorority sisters while Sadie and Peggy were going on their second year as roommates.

"Okay! Okay! Now that we're all finally together, our first topic of conversation is this coming summer!" Evie announced over the chatter of her friends and din of the patio.

As one, Sadie, Peggy, and Betty groaned. "Evie, we literally started school on Monday, I think the summer can wait!" Betty said, laughing as Evie tried to clap a hand over her mouth and over Sadie's to shut them up.

"No! We're talking about a three month backpacking trip through Europe! If we don't start planning now then we'll put it off and off and then either we'll scramble to do it last minute or worse - we'll never go."

Sadie batted Evie's hand away. "Come on! Even I'm not worried about that trip and I'm the most uptight person you know."

"She's not wrong, the last time we flew she insisted we get to the airport three hours early," said Peggy, winking at Sadie.

But Evie could not be dissuaded. "Betty and I are staying here to get our masters and I cannot in good conscience send you off to law school," she said loudly over Peggy, pointing at her friend. "And you off to med school," she pointed to Sadie. "Next fall without one last hurrah!"

That shut everyone up. All four girls stared at each other over their drinks, recognizing that this was, indeed, their last year all together at the same place. Sadie bit her lower lip and grasped her drink. In the chaos of the week, Sadie had really forgotten that this was their senior year, and suddenly her lungs tightened along with her heart. Peggy seemed to feel the same way as she raised her glass.

"Well, then here's to one last hurrah," she said.

"Cheers to that!" Sadie cried and the other girls followed suit.

Their conversation rapidly devolved into a spirited argument over the unplanned particulars of their trip: where to start, where to go, where to end, and everything in-between. They'd only gotten started on hostels vs. hotels vs. home rentals when Peggy completely stopped paying attention to all of them. Instead, she bit her lip as her brown eyes began following a figure in the crowd. Sadie leaned over to get in her line of sight, and almost immediately she spotted the object of Peggy's attention.

Although the exact date of their meeting was a hotly debated topic, Peggy's open attraction to and fascination with Steve Rogers was one of the worst kept secrets on the planet. As Sadie watched the man in question cut through the crowd to join his friends at another high top, she didn't have a hard time seeing why Peggy liked Steve so much. Tall, blonde, and stupidly handsome, Steve also happened to be literally the nicest person Sadie had ever met.

"Captain Perfect's back this year?" She asked and upon hearing the tagline 'Captain' Evie and Betty not-so-subtly rotated on their bar stools to see. Peggy, now mortified, clapped a hand over her face, muttering something about needing new friends under her breath.

"Yes, he's working on his masters in history," she said. Sadie nodded, mildly impressed.

"Have you talked to him yet?" She asked.

Peggy shook her head, but grabbed her phone to check her reflection on the shining screen. "Maybe I should now? It looks like he's with friends, though. I'd hate to interrupt him."

Sadie gave Peggy a nudge. "Go," she said in an encouraging voice. "You're friends, right? I'm sure he'd love to see you."

What Sadie didn't say was that Steve would probably be thrilled to see Peggy. Though she'd only met him twice in the library with Peggy towards the end of last year, it couldn't have been more obvious that Steve returned Peggy's feelings. Why he hadn't done anything about it, however, remained to be seen.

"I don't know," said Peggy, showing a rare moment of insecurity.

"Seriously, if you don't go over there and talk to him, I'll make Betty drag you over there and I think we both know how that'll end."

That was motivation enough for Peggy who almost immediately got to her feet. "Fair enough!" She chirped and, clutching her glass of wine, started weaving her way towards Steve Rogers. Through gaps in the crowd, Sadie could see the way recognition turned into sheer delight on Steve's face as Peggy came into his line of sight.

"Sadie Reid, amateur matchmaker. Who knew?" said Evie in a teasing voice.

Pointedly ignoring Evie's jibe, Sadie took stock of their dwindling drinks. "I'll go get the next round," she said and slid off her bar stool.

Frequent patrons of The Eighteenth knew that when the weather was nice, the downstairs bar was usually less crowded. As Sadie came downstairs, she found the bar still busy, but far less packed than the upper deck. A few familiar faces stuck out in the crowd and she returned friendly waves and smiles as she worked her way to the bar, eventually getting a spot against the lacquered surface.

For a glorious thirty seconds, Sadie was able to wait for the bartender in peace.

Then, she heard a deep chuckle that she immediately knew belonged to a familiar and unwelcome presence. "I'll be honest, I didn't even think you knew where Ninth Street was."

Sadie lifted her grey eyes to find Bucky Barnes sliding in to stand next to her. He tipped his sunglasses off his eyes, pushing them to the top of his head. The top three buttons of his pale blue shirt were undone, revealing a sliver of his chest and his hair would be a mess without his sunglasses keeping it at bay. Uncaring that she could see exactly what he was doing, Bucky's eyes flickered from the sheets of her straight hair, down her body, taking in the length of her legs, exposed by the shorts she wore with flat sandals.

Sighing in disgust, Sadie tried to angle her body away from his so she could try and catch the bartender's attention faster.

"You're not even going to talk to me? Now that hurts," he said lightly.

"I don't know, can I if it's not written down in my perfect planner?" She shot at him, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Bucky, undeterred by her blatant dislike, kept plowing on. "I probably deserved that," he said. "But you have to admit, you're unnervingly organized."

What was wrong with that? "I like being organized," she said loudly over the music.

The heat from his body seared through her skin, bared by the loose tank top she wore. "So what you're saying is you aren't impulsive," he countered.

"What? That's not true!" She argued back, sucked into looking at him again. "Just because I like order doesn't mean I don't know how to have fun or can't be spontaneous."

Bucky shrugged, looking thoroughly unconvinced. "You're not an impulsive person, that's fine. Nothing wrong with it."

"Oh please, what would you even know? You've talked to me for a grand total of like thirty minutes."

Now Bucky looked away from her, signaling the bartender. "I'm good at reading people," he said simply. "And you're an open book."

Sadie began to wonder just how many times Bucky was going to stun her to silence over the course of their knowing each other. In arguments, as in all aspects of her life, Sadie hated being wrong. More than that, it turned out she hated being bested by Bucky and she couldn't abide the way he was looking at her in that moment, as though he had her all figured out and had her exactly where he wanted her. Chafing beneath his gaze, she squirmed and tried to put more distance between them.

"You don't know anything about me," she countered.

"I know more than you think. You hate philosophy and take notes so structured that you have to be a science major; there's no way you can keep all those numbers and equations in chemistry straight without good note taking. Even for classes you hate you read and pay attention, so I'm guessing you actually haven't made anything less than a B your entire life. You probably already know exactly where you want to be this time next year, what you want to do with your life, and where you want to be ten years from now. If I had to wager a guess, you don't have a boyfriend because all the guys smart enough to keep up with you are too focused on their own careers to date either and every other guy is too stupid to look past the aforementioned stamp on your forehead to even try. But you already know that because you're probably easily the smartest girl in the room at any given time and you don't bother to hide it. If you really cared you'd be like the other hair-twirlers in here. And even though you're a shoo-in for whatever grad school you're going to conquer, you won't take risks because of the miniscule chance it'll ruin your perfect plan, probably one you put together with your doting, overbearing parents who will take nine thousand pictures at graduation. In fact, I bet you're a total daddy's girl, striving for perfection just to please some unrealistic expectation you've set for yourself just so you can give your future kids the same white-picket fence life you had."

Sadie stared at him slack-jawed. At once, a familiar needling sensation began to prickle at the brittle, raw edges of her heart. Without thinking about it, her hand flew to the silver chain that hung around her neck, from which hung a single golden ring. There were many lines that Bucky had crossed in his arrogant, cocksure speech, but he'd ended on a particularly damning note.

"Well?" Asked Bucky as he took the beer that the bartender handed him. "Am I right or am I right?"

Sadie gathered up her three drinks. Each breath she took hurt, her lungs pressing in on old but unhealed wounds. "You're a regular Sherlock Holmes," she said distantly, too stunned by his out-of-line assessment to be really angry with him. Anger would come later, when she was safely sitting on Peggy's bed, drowning her sorrows in a pint of triple fudge brownie ice cream. But as she tried to get away from Bucky, a realization dawned on her. "That psych degree you're working towards must come in real handy when you're actually trying to pick up girls," she said and left without another word.

X X X

Bucky knew he'd said something horribly, terribly bad the very second he looked back to Sadie. He'd expected her dumbfounded reaction, even her indignant shouting that he was completely wrong, though he never was. But the way she'd stared at him, as though he'd forcefully opened her chest cavity and pummeled her heart was something he'd never seen before. Reflected in Sadie's mercurial eyes, the emotions ran deep, telling Bucky that he hadn't just crossed a line, he'd jumped the damn Grand Canyon.

And while he waited for Steve to rejoin him back at the bar, Bucky realized that he'd actually been truly awful. He barely knew Sadie Reid, the sharp-witted brunette from his philosophy class, but he'd thoroughly enjoyed their verbal sparring sessions since their first meeting. But, as he was prone to do, Buck had taken it one step too far and completely fucked it up.

Wasn't Steve always telling him, don't go too far? Don't push too hard?

Bucky was pretty certain he'd gone and thrown any chance he had at even being Sadie's friend right over the side of a cliff.

Staring moodily into his beer, Bucky went back through his words, trying to figure out where he'd gone wrong. As it turned out, there were too many missteps to really count. A hand fell heavy on his shoulder.

"What's gotten into you? When I left you were eyeing the redhead at the end of the bar." Steve Rogers said as he took the spot where Sadie recently stood.

Steve pursed his lips together, a knowing light flashing in his eyes. "What did you do?"

The accusation hung heavy in Steve's voice. That was the problem with having the same best friend for almost twenty-three years. Where Bucky could hide from the rest of the world behind a veneer of sarcasm and apathy, he was an open book in Steve's hands. Even the slightest deviation from his normal carefree self would tip Steve off that something was wrong. Bucky rolled his eyes and grumbled out a reply. "What makes you think I did anything?"

"Well, for one thing you look like you're about to go swimming in your beer and for another you're not talking to that redhead, even though she hasn't stopped staring at you since I got back."

Flicking his blue eyes down the length of the crowded bar, Bucky settled on a pretty girl with fiery red hair. Steve was right, she was staring at him and didn't even bother to avert her eyes in embarrassment at having been caught. Instead she gave him a toothy smile and pushed her long curls behind her shoulders to reveal the low cut of her tank top, an invitation if Bucky ever saw one.

"Nah, not interested," Bucky mumbled. Steve's eyebrows almost disappeared into his hairline. Both men knew that on a normal night Bucky would be glued to the girl's side, whispering in her ear as he bought her drinks and offered her a ride on his motorcycle back to his house.

More than one reason kept his feet firmly rooted to the floor, but Bucky wasn't about to have that conversation with Steve again.

"Oh come on, Buck. It can't be that bad."

Famous last words, Bucky thought grimly.

Trying to dismiss Steve's curiosity got him nowhere. Finally, after a moment's worth of Steve's poking and prodding, Bucky finally gave in. "It's that girl from philosophy, the one I was telling you about. She was just down here and I might have taken things a little bit too far," he admitted, keeping his blue eyes firmly locked on his beer.

"What did you say?"

"That's just it, I don't know! She's pretty uptight and I've been joking around all week about how she's a perfectionist and not spontaneous at all. But she came down here and she's just so frustrating so I thought I'd try to get her to loosen up and I did the whole bit where I tell her that I know more about her than she thinks I do." As Bucky spoke Steve clapped a hand over his face, groaning into his palm. "Obviously I said something wrong because she was definitely mad."

Bucky sighed. Sadie's near-instant and obvious distaste for him aside, Bucky thought things were going pretty well between them. Beneath her prickly nature, Sadie possessed sharp wit and she wasn't even remotely afraid to use it. Bucky particularly enjoyed her dismissive treatment, sparking an emotion he hadn't felt towards a girl in a long time: curiosity.

Curiosity drove him to get out of bed an extra ten minutes early on Wednesday and Friday morning just to see her at The Beanery and then again in class. Bucky wanted to know more about Sadie, but he learned quickly that he couldn't flirt his way into her good graces. So, Bucky went a different route to get her attention and it had blown up in his face quite spectacularly.

"Well that's a tough break, but there are plenty of other fish in the sea." Bucky snorted into his beer. Every so often, Steve did or said something that caused Bucky to wonder if his best friend was actually from a different century. "What was her name?"

"Sadie," said Bucky, sliding his empty pint glass across the bar. "Sadie Reid."

Bucky did not see Steve choke in surprise on his own drink at the mention of Peggy Carter's roommate.

X X X

"Scoot over," said Peggy as she came into her room, carrying a pint of ice cream and two spoons. Sadie grinned and moved to the left on Peggy's daybed, leaning her back against the wrought iron frame. Sitting cross-legged in a pair of old running shorts and long-sleeved shirt, she happily took the ice cream and spoons so Peggy could settle next to her friend.

The clock on Peggy's bedside table read twelve-forty in the morning. Sadie knew she should be in bed, but the prospect of ice cream and an evening recap was too good to pass up.

"Forget booze, this is what I needed," said Sadie, pushing the tip of her spoon deep into the pint of double fudge brownie.

"Amen," agreed Peggy, following Sadie's example. For a few moments, both girls sat in easy silence, piecing together their night. After Sadie had returned to the rooftop looking quite disgruntled, Evie and Betty insisted they all move on to a different bar. Sadie happily followed her friends out of The Eighteenth, blissfully unaware that a sharp pair of blue eyes watched her walk out the door.

From there they'd gone to Grimsby's, another popular undergrad bar famous for its sports themed shots and nightly specials. Peggy and Sadie amused themselves by watching Evie and Betty descend deeper and deeper into a drunken stupor that would inevitably lead to more pathetic morning-after hangover texts. A little after midnight Sadie drove everyone home, all while stewing over Bucky Barnes and his unbelievable, but almost entirely true, assessment of her. When Peggy finally dared to bring the conversation topic back to the jerk in question, Sadie dropped her head against the wall, cursing at the ceiling.

"He's the fucking worst! He's presumptuous and arrogant and thinks that he can say whatever he wants to complete strangers," Sadie complained adding to her already lengthy list of grievances against Bucky.

Peggy passed the pint back to Sadie. A thoughtful expression pinched her face and she pursed her lips over her spoon. Sadie drew one of her knees up to her chest and took another large bite of ice cream while she waited for Peggy to put her thoughts together.

"I can't believe he stood there and gave you a whole speech about yourself."

"Me either."

"I suppose he thought it'd be charming, showing off how much he notices about you and the details he picks up. Although I have to say it backfired quite spectacularly," Peggy mused.

"That's the understatement of the year," muttered Sadie. Absently, she swept her fishtail braid over her shoulder and began toying with the end, examining her split ends. Even now she could clearly picture Bucky leaning against the bar without a care in the world. With a forearm resting on the bar top, he exuded a confidence that Sadie would never understand or possess, as though he owned the place. She recalled the way wore his sleeves rolled over his forearms and the way his hair fell at graceful angles to frame his face. Had he ever even been treated negatively by a girl? Somehow Sadie figured the answer was a resounding "no."

"Still, good for you for walking away. I'dve probably gotten into a fight with him. Which is probably what he wanted you to do, now that I think about it."

Sadie coughed on her bite of ice cream. "Why on earth would he want me to fight with him?"

"Did it not occur to you that the reason he's being such a prat is because he's trying to get your attention?" Peggy asked, too reasonable for her own good.

The thought hadn't occurred to Sadie, because it seemed too outlandish. "Uh no," she said bluntly. "And besides, the last time I checked we're not in the third grade, so it's not cool to be mean to the girl you secretly like."

Peggy smiled, tapping the end of her spoon against her nose. "Actually, sometimes college is remarkably similar to primary school. In any event, I think you're wrong. He wouldn't go out of his way to pay any sort of attention you if he wasn't at least curious."

"Yeah, well, he can take his curiosity and shove it."

Peggy burst into laughter. "You should really embroider that on a pillow," she said, earning a bout of laughter from Sadie.

Sighing, Sadie leaned over, dropping her head on Peggy's shoulder. "He took a shot at my dad and it felt like he'd opened up all these old wounds that just healed."

Peggy wrapped her arm around Sadie's shoulder, hugging her. "I know and even I admit that was a low blow. But it's been almost two years, I thought you were doing better?"

Sadie shrugged. "I am. But that doesn't mean it hurts any less."

"It'll get better. And although I'm certainly not taking his side, you can't really blame him for that. It's not as though he knows."

Sadie knew her friend was right. Bucky was a lot of things, but he didn't strike her as cruel. Though his words were poorly chosen, he hadn't said them to be malicious. Sadie couldn't fault Bucky for not knowing all the facts. Despite his begrudgingly impressive display of perception, he still knew next to nothing about her.

At length, Peggy left her room to return the ice cream to the freezer. Sadie was already in her own bedroom, tossing her long-sleeved shirt into her laundry hamper and adjusting her sports bra. She had just pulled the covers back on her bed when Peggy paused to lean against her doorframe, a small grin tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Is he attractive?" Peggy enquired, too innocent for her own good.

Sadie didn't even want to admit she'd considered Bucky in that light for even a second. Still, his piercing blue eyes were hard to ignore. If Sadie had to hazard a guess, Bucky Barnes had never once starved for female company. The admission slipped from her tongue before she could stop herself. "He's gorgeous."

Peggy's grin widened, as though confirming her own suspicion. "What's his name?"

Sadie turned away to set her phone on her bedside table as she spoke. "Bucky Barnes."

Behind her friend's back Peggy turned a funny shade of red and clapped a hand over her mouth to hide her smile.

X X X

Anderson Levitt Library stood in the dead center of campus. A monolith of white stone and roman-inspired columns, the library was a beacon for the studious and generally curious. Peggy Carter happened to be both and as such, the library was her favorite place on campus. She went there between and after classes, wrote her papers and crammed for finals in the quiet study carrels. But her preferred spot was in the basement level, in the history stacks.

That was where she first met Steve Rogers. Unable to find a single empty table during the midterms season last spring, Peggy wandered into the basement level where the tables were all full with the exception of one side of an otherwise occupied spot. With no other options, Peggy had approached the table and came to a grinding halt when its resident lifted his head and graced her with a handsome, blinding white smile. Steve offered her the open side of his table before Peggy could even open her mouth.

Back then, Steve had been a senior and couldn't have been more unassumingly charming if he tried. Completely unaware of the effect he had on women, Steve was unfailingly kind. He'd even bought Peggy a cup of coffee when he'd taken a study break that first day. Ever since they'd slowly developed a friendship based on their mutual love of history, shared political views, and similar sense of humor.

On a Thursday afternoon, three weeks into the new semester, Peggy strolled into the library. Carrying two cups of coffee, she wound her way down the stairs and into the basement level. The open stairwell revealed three columns of tables, running alongside the stacks. Near the end of the far left column, a blonde man sat pouring over several open books. Steve Rogers was now pursuing his Masters in history and practically lived in the library.

Steve tore his eyes away from his textbooks only after Peggy said his name. "Heya, Peg!"

It took a considerable amount of Peggy's abundant willpower to not swoon. Long ago she'd decided it was a good thing Steve had no clue how handsome he was. Instead of exchanging bland pleasantries, she set his coffee down in one of the free spaces between his books and plunked down opposite him.

"Did you know that my roommate hates your roommate?"

For the past two weeks, Peggy tried to keep this information to herself. Sadie would have her head if she knew and Peggy hated being on the receiving end of Sadie's ire. But after enduring a near-daily rant about how obnoxious Bucky Barnes was, Peggy decided enough was enough. So, Sadie's temper be damned, Peggy was going to do something about the whole fiasco.

Steve leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "Hate's an awfully strong word," he mused, humor dancing in his eyes. "What if we went with strongly dislikes?"

"Does the label really matter?" Peggy asked, arching a perfectly manicured eyebrow. "For the last three weeks your roommate has been driving Sadie up the wall in philosophy, first by teasing her and then by passing her notes and this week he's started bringing her coffee to class."

Steve ruffled his hair and, recognizing that Peggy wasn't going to let him get any studying finished, shut his books. "I like how when he's being normal he's just Bucky but when he's behaving badly he's my roommate."

Peggy shrugged, eyeing Steve carefully over the top of her coffee cup. "Is he planning on changing his tactic weekly?"

"You know I think we should just be grateful he's going to class, even if it's just to flirt with Sadie."

"So he does like her," Peggy surmised.

In all of Sadie's long-winded rants concerning Bucky, Peggy noticed a common thread. It seemed that the long-haired fifth-year senior was trying to get her attention in any way possible. He came off almost desperate to have Sadie notice him, which begged the all-important question of whether Bucky's curiosity extended past friendship.

"I haven't asked him."

Therein lay Steve Roger's one major defect. The man couldn't talk about personal feelings if someone held a gun to his head. For months now, Peggy had been subtly trying to get Steve to openly return her obvious affection. Steve, however, remained either oblivious or obstinate and she couldn't decide which was worse. Bucky Barnes on the other hand, had zero qualms with blatantly flirting for attention or outright telling a girl when he was interested.

Peggy realized early on that, while his many admirers thought differently, the rakishly handsome Bucky was something of an acquired taste to the people who really knew him. If Steve was the personification of the ideal student, then Bucky was his equally attractive opposite. The one time Peggy asked Bucky about his plans to graduate, he'd casually tucked his hair away from his face, stating that he was going to take a victory lap. Sure enough, Bucky was now a fifth-year senior and perfectly unconcerned by it.

Steve often lamented at Bucky's inability to take anything seriously. His flippant attitude towards everything from school to his love life befuddled Peggy at every turn. It was plain as day that Bucky was just as intelligent as his friends, though in a vastly different way. Observant to a fault and highly attuned to other's emotions, Bucky often found himself pushing people out of their comfort zones. Sometimes he pushed too hard, which is how he'd wound up on Sadie's bad side.

"It's just a shame they got off to such a bad start," said Peggy delicately. "I think they'd be friends if things were different."

Her attempt at threading the needle crumbled as Steve tried his best not to chuckle. "You know you can't force people to be friends, or whatever you have in mind. Bucky and Sadie are the last people on the planet who would willingly let you set them up with anyone, much less each other."

"I don't want to set them up so much as encourage them to get along. After all, wouldn't things be so much better if our roommates got along?"

Thankfully, Steve didn't pry too much into her musings, otherwise her argument might fall apart at the seams. There was no real reason that Sadie and Bucky had to get along for the sake of their friendship. In fact, despite Peggy's friendship with both men, Sadie hadn't actually met Bucky until the start of the school year.

"Well, what did you have in mind?"

Peggy clapped her hands together in delight, much to the annoyance of nearby students. "Let's all go out for a drink. I'll bring Sadie and tell her that it's just us. Then Bucky can show up a little later when it's too late for her to make an exit."

Chuckling, Steve nodded. "Sounds like you've got this all planned out."

Oh, Steve had no idea, thought Peggy. "Saturday night, nine o'clock at Stems wine bar. Don't be late!"

X X X

Stems was a wine bar tucked just away from the main bars on Ninth Street. It was often frequented by the town's young professionals and older law students who preferred to pontificate on the Constitution away from the debauchery of the undergrads. Sadie had only been once with Betty who all but dragged her there so she could try and score a drink out of a young adjunct professor who taught French literature. Much to Sadie's displeasure, most of the night was spent watching Betty preen and show off, all while both women secretly wondered why Betty hadn't taken Evie instead.

To say that Sadie was dreading another night surrounded by the town's most insufferable intellectual elitists was an understatement. As she pulled down the skirt of the dress Peggy all but forced her in, Sadie wondered if it was worth kicking off her high heels and making a break for it. Surreptitiously, she checked her rose gold watch. If she sprinted she could catch the nine-fifteen bus back to campus and catch another to her apartment.

"Oh for God's sake would you stop fidgeting? It's a dress not a straight jacket," said Peggy as she walked confidently next to Sadie, perfectly at ease in her dainty ankle strap stilettos.

"Yeah, straight jackets have more material," muttered Sadie under her breath. In all reality the dress wasn't even that short. The running shorts she typically wore to class were much shorter. But running shorts didn't present the possibility of accidentally flashing the whole bar, something which Sadie would rather avoid.

Peggy snorted in unamused laughter. "Come on, you drink wine! I know, I've seen you do it. We'll just stop off for a couple of drinks and if it's boring we'll leave."

Sadie sighed, but nodded and smoothed over the emerald green fitted dress. The cool night breeze felt strange against her lower back, bared by the triangular shaped cutout of the dress. It hadn't been her first choice, but it was certainly better than several of the other options Peggy managed to dig up from her closet and then Sadie's. Sadie was fairly certain the dress was a gift from her mother, sent in a care package along with copies of Southern Living, new tubes of lipstick, and gluten-free lemon drop cookies. Peggy had expressed her dismay that the tags were still on the Ted Baker creation and threatened to strip Sadie and shove her into the dress if she had to.

Complying with her headstrong friend was safer than taking the risk that Peggy would actually do it. And now, Sadie found herself sweeping her loose waves over her shoulder and praying to God or anyone who would listen for the night to end quickly. Already the balls of her feet hurt, as she didn't wear high heels very often.

They walked up the set of three stairs that opened onto the front patio of Stems. Most of the patio tables and cushy chairs were filled with more hipsters than Sadie could count, likely talking about the tannins in their glasses of malbec. A smirk pulled at the corners of her mouth, but it immediately slipped off her face as soon as she and Peggy walked through the door.

Sitting at the bar looking very handsome and very much alone was Steve Rogers, graduate student extraordinaire.

"You have got to be kidding me," hissed Sadie, grabbing Peggy's wrist and spinning the girl around before Steve caught sight of them. Peggy's doe brown eyes widened and a far-too innocent expression took her porcelain face. "Don't even," Sadie warned. "You forced me to come here so you could meet Captain Fantastic over there?"

Casting an appraising glance over her shoulder, Peggy tilted her head to the side. "Is Fantastic really the best word? He's more of a Captain Delectable, wouldn't you agree?"

Sadie pinched the bridge of her nose. There was not enough wine in the entire bar to lessen her discomfort and irritation. "So not the point, Peg. Why didn't you tell me the whole point of this exercise was for you to work your way into the pants of a man who probably wouldn't even know what to do once you got there?"

"Because I knew you wouldn't come if I told you the truth," said Peggy reasonedably.

Well, Sadie couldn't argue with that. And it was far too late to try and weasel her way out as Steve's glance caught both women and his face broke into a smile that would make any woman weak in the knees. Even Sadie's heart tripped over a beat. "Besides, who cares if he doesn't know what to do. He seems like a fast learner."

The tension broke and Sadie clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter. With her shoulders thrown back and head held high, Peggy put on her best dazzling smile and led the way to Steve Rogers who had gallantly laid his jacket across a second bar stool as he clambered to his feet.

As they drew closer, Sadie decided he was the dictionary definition of 'American as apple pie.' From the top of his perfect blonde head all the way down to his khaki pants, he was the epitome of clean cut. Sadie suspected that he had gone so far as to iron his blue and white gingham button down before leaving with plenty of time to park and be at the bar ten minutes early. With some measure of self-disparagement, Sadie realized that Steve probably agonized more over what to wear than she had. And to be honest, she wasn't totally sure what that said about either of them.

"Hi Peggy," said Steve as they drew into earshot. "Hi Sadie, glad you could make it."

But as he ordered their first round, it became very apparent to Sadie that she was destined to be a third wheel. Despite Steve and Peggy both making conscious efforts to keep Sadie included in the conversation, it could not have been more plain that Sadie was just the officiate to their first unofficial date. The entire affair was something of a surprise to Sadie. She'd grown accustomed to blunt, no-nonsense Peggy. But the girl talking to Steve was dangerously close to melting faster than ice cream on a hot afternoon, basking under the blinding glow of Steve's blatant affection. It was a little too adorable for Sadie's taste, but Peggy couldn't seem to get enough of perfect Steve Rogers and the perfect creases on his spotless khakis.

"I'm really sorry, Sadie. I invited one of my friends to join us, but it looks like he's running late," said Steve at a break in the conversation.

Sadie, who had been examining the wine list looked up with raised eyebrows. "Oh, it's fine," she stumbled over her words.

Peggy looked at their cramped situation. Steve, the consummate gentleman, immediately offered his seat to Peggy and insisted that Sadie take the other. But the bar was beginning to crowd and there wouldn't be much room for a fourth person. "There's a table just over there. Perhaps we should take it?"

Peggy's suggestion prompted the trio to remove to the high top table where Sadie could at least while away the time staring out the windows. A litany of excuses rattled around in her head as to why she had to make a sudden disappearance. If Betty and Evie weren't likely already halfway to wasted at Mugsy's, Sadie would have them fake an emergency to get her out of the whole debacle. Even then, Peggy would see right through her escape attempt and then she'd never hear the end of it from her roommate.

Sadie was about to ask who Steve's friend was when she caught sight of the last person she wanted to see jogging up the stairs. Bucky Barnes swung the keys looping his finger into the palm of his hand, shoving them into the pocket of his jeans as he entered the wine bar. He raked his fingers through his haphazard hair as he drew into the main space, blue eyes flickering through the crowd.

"Oh Jesus Christ, what is he doing here?" Sadie whispered, turning her head away from him. Peggy frowned and leaned over to Sadie.

"What's wrong?"

"That's him!" Sadie whispered. "The jackass from the coffee shop and philosophy!"

Peggy's jaw dropped just as Steve bellowed the last name Sadie ever expected to hear. "Bucky!"

And as Bucky Barnes started making his way towards the table, Sadie began looking for anything she could use to create a medical emergency. Maybe if she choked on something or fell off her barstool and broke her ankle? Either option sounded better than having to come face-to-face with the last person she wanted to see.

At the same time a rather large question kept repeating itself over and over in her head. How in the hell were Captain Perfect and Bucky 'nine-times-out-of-ten-I'm-too-hung-over-to-function' Barnes friends? Whatever the answer was, Sadie didn't have time to figure it out. Bucky altered his course, grinning broadly as Peggy and Sadie came into view.

"Sorry I'm late," he said and sat in the last remaining bar stool at their table. "I got stuck on the phone."

"Not a problem," Steve assured and gestured to the two girls. "Bucky, you remember Peggy Carter? And I think you've met Sadie Reid?"

Bucky turned the full force of his smile on Peggy and Sadie. "Ladies," he said, as though that were enough to constitute a greeting. "Do we have a waiter? Or should I hit the bar?"

"Actually I'll get the next round," said Peggy, getting to her feet abruptly. Sadie's mouth fell open in abject horror as Steve lurched to his feet, exclaiming that he would help her. Suddenly, in the span of a minute, Sadie had gone from being the somewhat uncomfortable third wheel on a first date to being set up on an impromptu date of her own; with the current bane of her existence no less.

X X X

When Bucky got home he was going to give Steve a hearty pat on the back and then punch him in his perfect face. It was the only way he could think of to properly thank his friend for orchestrating a second chance with Sadie and doing it in the worst way humanly imaginable. Sadie sat next to him in frosty silence, tapping her short fingernails against the narrow stem of her wineglass. Bucky had a hard time taking his eyes off of her, especially in that green dress. He'd only caught a glimpse of her long legs before sitting down, but her loose espresso and plum curls perfectly framed her face and softened her slightly high cheekbones. Every so often, her grey eyes would slip his direction before turning resolutely back to the bar.

Peggy and Steve faced each other and stood as close as they could without touching. Deep in conversation, the couple seemed completely oblivious to the entire world around them, including their distressed friends. It was then that Bucky realized he'd been set up and so had Sadie.

"They're not coming back, are they?" Sadie wondered, resting her chin in her hands.

"Nope," said Bucky, popping the 'p.'

Silence followed, leaving Bucky desperate to find something to talk about or else Sadie would certainly leave. He allowed his eyes to flicker back to Sadie once more, drinking in her profile, chin resting in her hand. Think of something funny to say! His internal yelling was getting him absolutely nowhere. Sadie shifted uncomfortably in her seat and checked her phone. She was going to leave and Bucky's window of opportunity would close, maybe for good. The first words that popped into his brain came tumbling from his lips.

"What do you want to bet Steve chickens out again?"

Sadie tore her stormy eyes from her phone to stare at Bucky, mouth rounding in soft surprise. For a handful of terrible seconds, Bucky thought he'd crossed the line yet again. But then her lips pulled into a wicked sort of smile. "Why waste the money when we both know it's not going to happen?"

Bucky slumped in relief that his gamble paid off. "That's a fair point. But come on, could they be any more obvious?" He gestured towards the couple.

Sure enough, Peggy was leaning in closer to hear Steve while he tried his hardest not to appear too love-struck. "Well, sometimes it's hard to see the obvious when you're actually in it," reasoned Sadie. "Besides, they aren't the only doomed coupling at the bar."

Discretely, Sadie pointed to a young man a few stools away trying his best to keep the attention of his companion, a petite girl with rich brown skin and luxurious hair. Every so often the man would find an excuse to drape his arm on the back of her barstool or to gently touch her shoulder. The girl, however, had other ideas on her mind as she kept craning her neck for a better view of the handsome bartender.

"What do you think, date gone wrong? Or she's too nice to say no to his bad pick-up attempts?"

Sadie grinned at his question, releasing fresh warmth into his chest. Until now, Bucky wasn't even sure he could make Sadie smile. He was so glad he could. Although she didn't know it, Sadie's smile could light up a room. "I think date gone wrong. Who tries to pick up girls at a bar like this?"

Shrugging, Bucky pushed the sleeves of his shirt higher up his forearms. "You'd be surprised how many sleaze bags there are in this town. If they throw on a nice enough shirt and spout some bullshit terms about wine then Stems is as good of a place as any."

"You know this from experience?"

Bucky particularly enjoyed the way Sadie clapped her hand over her mouth in surprise at her own words. A pink flush pooled in her cheeks and she looked even more beautiful because of it. Call it masochism or just plain idiocy, but Bucky had always liked women who insulted him.

"Not that you're a sleaze," she said hurriedly, clearly mortified. "What I meant was-oh damnit there's just no way to backtrack out of that, is there?"

"Not really, but keep trying, it's very entertaining."

Sadie's embarrassment faded into a mild scowl. "Don't push your luck, Barnes," she warned. "I still haven't forgotten about what you said at The Eighteenth."

Bucky had been foolishly banking on her forgetting. Suddenly nervous all over again, Bucky toyed with the buckle on his watch strap. "I'm sorry about that, by the way," he said. "I was a jerk and I obviously overstepped my bounds and offended you. It was unintentional, I promise."

Sadie pursed her lips together, staring at the table top. "Thanks, and just as long as it doesn't happen again don't worry about it."

Bucky doubted he'd get more out of her and he wondered if she, like him, preferred to avoid these particular uncomfortable conversations. Choosing to take another stab in the dark, he left that topic altogether. "To answer your previous question, I have never tried to meet girls here. Wine flights and cheeses that I can't pronounce are not in my wheelhouse."

"Mine either," Sadie admitted, giving him a sideways glance. "I'll take a good rooftop patio or sports bar any day."

Finally, a piece of concrete, useable information! After weeks of trying to dig something out of Sadie, Bucky at last had real facts to work with. He'd tried his best to get into her good graces, when apparently all it took was an apology and a few crass remarks about other couples.

"Have you been to Hermann's off seventh street? It's got a great deck and the best grilled cheese in town."

Sadie arched an eyebrow. "Grilled cheese?"

Bucky grinned at her confusion. "Buffalo chicken, blue cheese, sautéed onions, and white American cheese."

"Well, now I'm starving, thanks for that," she teased him. "That does sound amazing, though."

What Bucky did next would go down as one of the better decisions of his life, though he hadn't felt nearly as confident in the moment. "The kitchen stays open until eleven and I know the bartender working tonight. Want to get out of here?"

Her pale pink lips parted in surprise and Bucky had to force himself to not stare at them. There were plenty of girls he'd seen who may qualify as prettier than Sadie Reid, but none of them had a mouth quite so perfect. Sadie's stormy eyes darted to Steve and Peggy. The pair were still ensconced in their own little world, they hadn't even looked back at their friends once. "The wonder couple isn't going to miss us," said Bucky gently. "Come on, it's on me."

Sadie slowly nodded, still not tearing her eyes from Peggy and Steve. "Maybe we should tell them."

"And ruin the joy of their confused faces when they see we're gone?" Bucky countered. Sadie's lips twitched. He reached into his back pocket for his wallet and threw a ten on the table. "So, what'll it be, a night spent watching our best friends act like love-struck idiots? Or really good grilled cheese and football?"

Bucky could see the war playing out on Sadie's face. For the better part of three weeks Sadie Reid wanted absolutely nothing to do with him and in the span of an evening, she was considering going off alone with him. Would she cling fast to her first opinion of him? Or was Sadie Reid able to admit that maybe she misjudged him? Bucky said a silent prayer to the universe for the latter.

"Okay," she said. "But I am not walking there in these shoes."

Her words were an open invitation for Bucky to look down. He swallowed hard. The high heels she wore did her legs a hundred different kinds of justice. "I can fix that," he said, hoping his voice didn't betray him. Bucky jerked his head towards the door. "Ready?"

Their departure prompted Peggy and Steve to share a high-five, ordering another round to revel in their success.

X X X

Sadie was amazed she didn't need ice skates as she followed Bucky out of Stems. After all, hell had clearly frozen over. There was simply no other explanation for why she was letting Bucky Barnes take her away from the relatively safe, if somewhat useless, company of her friends. And all to go get grilled cheese at a bar on seventh street. If Betty or Evie knew what she was doing they'd probably commit her.

The night was particularly fine, crisp without being cold. A thin veneer of cloud cover obscured most of the stars and the half-moon peered over the parking lot. Bucky's hair had a silvery cast in the light as he jogged lightly down the stairs from the doors, pausing to wait for her. Live music drifted from a nearby bar, reminding Sadie that the rest of ninth street was booming.

"So, how long do you think it takes them to realize we've left?" Bucky asked casually, fishing his keys out of his pocket.

"I give it at least another glass of chardonnay," joked Sadie.

Bucky laughed as he walked next to her. Sadie began to look around the parking lot, wondering what kind of car Bucky drove. He didn't seem to fit a predictable mold and as she contemplated the possibilities, Bucky came to a halt.

"It might not be the most comfortable ride in a dress and heels, but you should be fine."

A motorcycle.

Sadie realized that she shouldn't be surprised at all. Of course Bucky drove a motorcycle, what else would he drive? It seemed so obvious now. The problem was that Sadie had never been on a motorcycle once in her life. Even the mere prospect of climbing onto the back of one wearing high heels didn't sit well. Bucky read the hesitance on her face and he tried his best not to smile.

"Never been on a bike before?" He asked, swinging his leg over it and taking the helmet off his handlebars.

Sadie shook her head. "This may come as a shock to you, but I'm not really the motorcycle type of girl."

Bucky stood astride on his bike and held the extra helmet out to Sadie. The smile on his face was not one she'd seen before. Devoid of his usual sarcasm, Bucky looked at her hopefully, the smile acting as a genuine invitation.

"Do you trust me?" He asked.

Sadie shifted her weight, wondering if she was actually crazy to accept his offer. Peggy's words echoed in her mind. Do something impulsive for once in your life Sadie Reid, or else you'll graduate and regret it forever. Well, Sadie couldn't think of anything more impulsive than getting on the back of a motorcycle belonging to the guy that had annoyed her for three straight weeks. Besides, she thought as she made up her mind, Bucky really wasn't even all that bad. Sadie stepped forward and took the helmet from him, smiling mischievously before she spoke.

"Not even a little bit."

A/N: Soooo, what did you guys think? The next part picks up right where we leave off and brings in more Marvel characters. We'll explore Sadie and Bucky's growing friendship and grilled cheese (that sandwich is a real thing, actually, and its delicious).

Let me know what you think, good? Bad? Kind of crazy? Want more banter? I love hearing/reading your feedback! Much love – Kappa.


	2. Grilled Cheese and Confessions

**A/N: Apologies for the delay! I've been putting most of my focus on my other fic,** _ **Songbirds and Bombshells**_ **, so I wrote this installment in pieces. I think the wait will be worth it, since this AU is only going to be 6-7 parts, everything moves at a faster pace.**

 **Uh, you guys are** _ **awesome**_ **. Thank you so much for the reviews, favorites, follows, and all of the love! I love, love, love writing this AU and I'm so glad that you guys are loving it too. Extra thanks and love to Stencil Your Heart and Mopargirl1 for helping me float ideas and for their beta magic!**

 **Warnings for language! ALSO – if you are/were/want to be in the Greek system, I don't want you to construe any of this as sorority/fraternity bashing. I myself was actually an officer in my sorority in college. I needed a good modern-day, college parallel to SHIELD/HYDRA and what better than the Greek system?**

 **Disclaimer – I don't own** _ **Captain America**_ **, but gosh if I did…if I did.**

 **Part Two: Grilled Cheese and Confessions**

Bucky had never been more aware of another human being in his entire life. Certainly he'd driven with girls on his motorcycle before;. He was used to having sinewy arms wrapped around his waist and knees on either side of him, but Sadie Reid was a different creature altogether. For one, she was holding onto him with a strange mixture of hesitance and fear, betraying her lingering dislike for him warring with her apprehension at falling off. For another, he hadn't been this attracted to someone in a long, long time.

Just the pressure of her hands over his sides set his pulse racing. The knowledge that if she leaned just a litter closer to him he would feel her breath rush in his ear and her breasts press against his back set him further on edge. This was nothing to say of her long legs and the inside of her thighs pressing against him. Every detail about their proximity begged Bucky to change his course and take her to his house where the rest of the world's prying eyes wouldn't find them. He couldn't explain why but Bucky had to fight the overwhelming urge to not share her attention with anyone else.

As aware of her body as he was, Bucky could also feel tension running through her fingers and legs. Sadie was acutely uncomfortable on the back of his bike. It was a combination of things that had to include the short dress she wore with high heels, not the best clothing for a motorcycle ride. So instead of dragging out the moment, Bucky took the most direct path to Hermann's.

Hermann's was a dive bar tucked away from the undergrad haven of Ninth Street. Rumor had it that the place had burned down at least twice in the fifty-plus years it had been open. Sometimes Bucky was surprised the place wasn't more popular; it boasted a fantastic patio near the back of the building, mostly hidden by a few well-placed fences and trees. He pulled into the parking lot and into a narrow space near the entrance.

"That's not actually a parking spot," Sadie remarked after he killed the engine.

Bucky shrugged. "I've been coming here for years and nobody's towed me yet."

" _Yet_ being the operative word," mumbled Sadie under her breath. Bucky grinned and waited for her to awkwardly clamber off the back of the bike, struggling to keep her dress in place. When she was safely on her feet, he swung his leg over the bike and took the helmet back from her. Sadie flipped her head over, shaking her tousled curls to bring life back to them and Bucky had to force his gaze away when she tossed her head back upright, sending her hair everywhere. She literally had no clue how alluring she looked in that particular shade of green or that Bucky would have gladly found any excuse to thread his fingers through her shining curls.

"Do you want a ride home or not? Because I have no problem leaving you in this parking lot," he teased.

Sadie raised an eyebrow. "And risk the wrath of your holier-than-thou roommate, Captain Awesome? I doubt it."

Bucky snorted in amused laughter. "Captain Awesome?"

She shrugged and walked towards the entrance to the bar. "It's a working title. Now, I thought you were going to buy me a grilled cheese?"

Jogging to catch up with her, Bucky took two strides ahead so he could open the door for her. Sadie's eyes flickered to him. The corners of her mouth lifted in a faint smile. "And they say chivalry is dead."

"Ha, ha," he deadpanned.

She shot him a wicked smile over her shoulder and that was when he noticed the triangle shaped cutout of her dress, revealing a swatch of peaches and cream skin. Bucky's mind dropped straight into the gutter and it took him an embarrassingly long time to recover. By the time he put himself back together Sadie was already at the bar waiting for him.

"Bucky!" A heavily accented voice drifted from the bar.

Jacques Dernier wiped his hands off on a clean towel before he tossed it aside. "Hey, man," he said and reached across the bar to shake hands with the Frenchman.

"Who is your friend?" He asked, turning the full force of his smile on Sadie.

Her iron eyes flicked up and down the lengths of his arms, bared by the short sleeved button down he wore. Sleeve tattoos covered nearly every available inch of his muscular forearms and biceps, a flawless melding of various images. Dernier, as he was usually called, somehow managed to pull off a mustache, slightly curled at the ends.

"Sadie, this is Jacques Dernier. Dernier, this is Sadie Reid. We have philosophy together. She's also Peggy's roommate."

"Ah, Peggy," said Dernier with fond recollection. "She has been here many times, but I have never seen you with her. It's nice to meet you. What is your poison, Miss Reid?"

Dernier drew out her last name and Bucky rolled his eyes. The Frenchman often used the combination of his accent, tattoos, and drink making skills to woo pretty girls back to his place for the night. Usually he was successful, but somehow Bucky doubted he'd have a profound impact on Sadie.

Sadie rest her chin in her hands, humor sparkling in her eyes. "Bourbon."

Bucky had noticed the slight southern lilt in her voice before, but it came on strong now. Dernier faltered for a brief second and Sadie arched a manicured eyebrow. Clearly he hadn't been expecting such a straight forward answer. Bucky covered his smile with a hand. The bartender was used to girls who batted their eyelashes and asked him what his specialties were or used Dernier's all-time favorite line _'surprise me.'_

"Bourbon?" He repeated.

Sadie nodded. "What kind of southern belle would I be if I didn't enjoy Kentucky's finest?"

She purposely put her accent on thick now. Out of the corner of Bucky's eye he swore she winked at him. Sadie's treatment of Dernier did, at the very least, ease his mind. It was nice to see someone else fall prey to Sadie's barbed sense of humor.

It took Dernier a moment or so to consider what he would do with bourbon. While he thought he took a lowball and dropped a large ice cube in the glass before washing it over with scotch. "I think I've got it," he announced, sliding Bucky's drink across the bar to him.

Sadie waited patiently while Dernier got to work. She looked around the bar with its mismatched tables and chairs and quiet crowd. "What an odd place. How did you find it?"

Bucky shrugged, watching a couple of guys play darts on one of the old cork boards near the back of the bar. The walls were littered with various university paraphernalia, autographed pictures from bands that played and pictures of old owners and patrons. Strings of lights hung from the ceiling, including lights shaped like margarita glasses and beer bottles. The wood floor creaked beneath Bucky every time he shifted on his barstool. It was an odd place, he realized, especially considering the high quality of the food and drink. But that was why he liked it.

"An ex-girlfriend, actually," he admitted. "No clue how she knew about it but we started coming here freshman year because back then nobody carded at the door."

Bucky watched her carefully out of the corner of his eye. He avoided mentioning old girlfriends if he could help it. Forcefully, he reminded himself that he wasn't on a date and what did Sadie care if he had ex-girlfriends? She probably had her fair share of exes too.

"She doesn't come here anymore?" She asked casually.

He shook his head. "She graduated last year and we hadn't been together since the middle of freshman year."

Sadie nodded. "Was she older?"

"Nope, I'm just a year behind the curve."

"I thought maybe you were taking a victory lap," she mused, leaning back in her bar stool so she could look at him better. "Why?"

Bucky was saved from answering when Dernier slid a drink across the bar top towards Sadie. A perfectly curled strip of lemon rind capped the red-tinged cocktail, swirling in crushed ice. Dernier leaned against his side of the bar, watching and waiting for Sadie's assessment. Bucky watched her raise the glass to her lips and take a drink. Almost immediately she pulled back, eyed the drink and then Dernier.

"That's phenomenal," she said bluntly.

Dernier grinned. "It's a Sazerac," he explained. "I thought perhaps you'd like a southern drink to match your accent."

Bucky rolled his eyes. The Frenchman winked before turning away with a flourish, destined to help another group further down the bar. Bucky considered whether he'd ever keep Sadie's attention if they stayed at the bar any longer. The opposite wall from the bar contained two large doors that opened out onto the patio. It was a fine night, perfect for convincing a headstrong girl to give him a second chance.

"Want to sit outside? It's too nice to be indoors."

Sadie answered in the affirmative as she slid off her barstool and opened her purse to fish out her wallet. Bucky had already beat her to the punch, tossing some cash down on the bar top. "I said I was buying, didn't I?"

She scowled. "You're buying grilled cheese, not drinks."

Bucky grinned and waved her off dismissively. "The drinks were implied in the original offer, now come on before Dernier comes back and tries more of his best material on you."

Without waiting for her, Bucky shoved one hand into his pocket and strolled towards the deck. The tell tale sound of her high heels on the floor told him that she was following. The night was still perfect as he stepped onto the patio, destined for one of the open tables. Sadie's voice drifted into his ears from behind.

"Biochemistry." He whirled around as he grabbed a chair to pull out for her. It was his turn to shoot her a questioning look and she shrugged. "You've been poking me for weeks about my major and that's it. I'm majoring in biochemistry."

Sadie sat down and crossed one long leg over the other. "So you're obviously either going for a PhD or to med school, which is it?"

"Med school."

"Kicking ass, saving lives, being smarter than everyone else?" He teased. A flush swirled into her cheeks. Sadie reached for one of the beat up paper menus on the table and began glancing it over, pointedly not looking at him. He didn't bring the subject up until after they'd ordered. "Okay but seriously, what kind of doctor do you want to be?"

Sadie evaluated him over the rim of her cocktail glass, perched between her manicured fingers. "An oncologist."

Though he couldn't explain why, Bucky was surprised. Sadie had the kind of take-charge attitude that he'd expect of a physician who had to handle intense chaos. If he had to wager a guess, he'd bet that she could be quite formidable when she wanted to be and probably had a good set of lungs to boot. In the short time he'd known her he would have expected her to work in an ER or something equally chaotic.

"Seems like there's a story there," he said without much thought.

Sadie cracked the shadow of a smile, staring at the rim of her glass. Sadness tinged her expression and seemed to flow right through to the tips of her fingers. As she evaluated the state of her drink, Sadie seemed to be considering whether or not to tell him the truth. Sadie didn't strike Bucky as a liar but he wouldn't be surprised if she shut him down, it was a rather personal inference.

"My dad," she said with a kind of finality that left Bucky in no doubt as to her meaning. "He died the summer between freshman and sophomore year." Sadie wouldn't meet his eyes as she spoke and Bucky was astounded to watch as she shrank deeper into herself. It was jarring and disconcerting to see her so withdrawn. "I know it's probably cliché and a bit contrived. A girl's dad dies from cancer and she becomes an oncologist as a result. But I can't help it, if there's anything I can do to keep any other family from going through what I went through then that's what I have to do."

Bucky wanted to reach across the table and take her hands in his. A strong part of him wanted to swing his chair around the table and gather her into his arms where she was protected from the world. "It's not cliché or contrived or anything close," he said with as much earnest as he could put in his voice. "It's a calling and you shouldn't ignore that. I'm sorry about your dad."

Sadie looked away, staring off into the distance. "There's nothing to be sorry for," she said softly.

It was then that Bucky's mind rewound all the way to the Eighteenth Bar three weeks prior. Groaning, he smacked his forehead with his hand. "Yes, there is. What I said that night at the Eighteenth makes sense now. No wonder you think I'm a Grade A jerk. I'm so sorry, Sade."

"It's okay, you didn't know. I don't, well, I don't really like to talk about it."

Bucky frowned and rubbed the back of his neck and then his shoulder. He knew all too well the burden of keeping secrets and carrying private tragedies. The more he knew Sadie, the more she surprised him with how similar they really were. "I get that," he said simply. "I promise no more poking and prodding into the subject. But whether you go into oncology or something else, you're going to be a great doctor."

Even in the dim light he could see her cheeks were practically glowing from her blush. Sadie gave a small, nervous laugh and then shook her head. "Can we talk about something else now? Otherwise I'm going to have to start drinking more to compensate for my extreme discomfort."

Laughter spilled from Bucky's lips, he just couldn't help it. "Yeah, anything you want. How about the fact that our roommates are the two most pathetic and dense people on the planet?"

It proved to be a good subject change as Sadie had plenty to say about the situation. Bucky was glad to have a new ally in the saga of Peggy and Steve, especially one as close to the situation as Sadie. With each passing minute he could see her relax further into her seat. Bucky didn't know if it was their good conversation or Dernier's unapologetically strong drinks but by the time their food came out, Sadie had forgotten to be on guard with him and seemed to be genuinely enjoying herself.

"Jesus Christ, what's in this?" She asked after her first bite, staring at the sandwich with awe.

"Steve and I have been speculating for years," Bucky replied. "He says a secret spice mix. I keep it simple and say magic."

"I think you're probably right. I can't believe I've lived here almost four years and never had one of these."

"A great tragedy," he said with mock solemnity.

Bucky decided the liked way her nose wrinkled slightly when she smiled. "On the bright side, I've got an entire year to catch up."

"Definitely, just don't expect me to buy all those."

Bucky didn't duck in time as she wadded up a napkin and threw it at his face. He took her back to her apartment near campus after they finished. Sadie waved at him before she disappeared up the stairs to her second floor apartment, dismissing his insistence that he walk her to her door. Bucky watched her go, leaning over the handlebars of his bike and trying not to grin like an absolute idiot. They barely knew each other but Bucky didn't care. There was something about Sadie Reid that he couldn't deny and he didn't want to. He raked his fingers through his hair, trying to think of an actual date he'd been on that was better than the non-date he'd just had with Sadie Reid.

None came to mind.

X X X

Sadie woke early the next morning. Clear blue skies greeted her when she shuffled out of her bedroom, twisting her hair into a sloppy knot at the back of her head. The tiny breakfast nook opened into the kitchen and the blinds were open, allowing golden rays of the morning sun to bathe the rooms. Stifling a yawn, Sadie padded barefoot to the fridge and grabbed the pitcher of filtered water.

The screen of her phone lit up when she set it down on the counter, revealing litany of ignored text message alerts from her friends. Sadie poured herself a glass of water and drank it as she leaned against the counter, scrolling through messages from Betty, Evie, and Peggy. There were Snapchat stories from her friends Tim Dugan, Douglas Lovitz, and a handful of Instagram posts from a combination of the group. A smile tugged at her lips when she got to a picture that Peggy and Steve sent together, giving her a stern expression and admonishing her for disappearing on them. Absently she wondered if Bucky received the same message. His name appeared on her recent texts screen as well, having taken the liberty of adding himself into her phone and texting himself from it.

What induced her to climb onto the back of Bucky Barnes' motorcycle to go eat grilled cheese sandwiches still eluded Sadie. Perhaps it was the subtle challenge he gave her, to do something impulsive and unplanned. Sadie thrived on order but she'd enjoyed the chaos of last minute changed plans and riding on the back of a vehicle driven by someone she barely knew. But Sadie also knew that her innate curiosity had gotten the better of her. Bucky was carefree and irritating and just a little bit smug but he was also mysterious in his own right. It didn't take much to see that he was extremely intelligent, which left Sadie mystified as to why he was taking a fifth year.

Sadie got so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't hear Peggy emerge from her room, tugging a t-shirt on over her sports bra and baggy sweatpants. In a fluid motion she swept her tousled curls from beneath the collar of her shirt and tried her hardest not to smirk as she rounded the corner to the kitchen.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Houdini herself," teased the brunette. "That was quite the escape you and Bucky pulled last night."

Trying to play off her embarrassment, Sadie shrugged her narrow shoulders and refused to look up from her phone. "The air of pompous elitism in that bar was suffocating. If you hadn't been busy making googly eyes at Captain Astounding you might have noticed."

Peggy snorted in laughter and wound her way around Sadie to grab a glass from the cabinet. Once Sadie was certain she had her emotions under control, she tore her eyes from her phone screen and stretched her arms high over her head. "I was not making googly eyes at him."

"Yeah, okay," said Sadie sarcastically. She bent one knee up and caught her ankle, stretching her quads out one at a time. "Say that once more with a straight face and I might believe you."

"Hey! I am not the one who snuck off to an undisclosed location with some guy I barely know who I claim to despise!" Peggy proclaimed as she put her bottle of orange juice back in the fridge. "You have no room to point a finger at me."

Sadie shrugged. "I wouldn't have had to if you hadn't abandoned us at that table!"

Peggy had enough sensibility to look somewhat mollified at Sadie's accusation. The hint of a flush stained her cheeks and she drained half her orange juice in one go to avoid answering. Sadie followed her out of the kitchen and into the living room, waiting to hear what her roommate had to say on the subject. "If you're looking for an apology you're not going to get it. I wanted you two to get on better terms and from the looks of it I was wildly successful."

"I could strangle you sometimes," snapped Sadie and the two women turned into opposite directions to their respective rooms. Sadie stripped her loose tank top off and dug a clean sports bra out of her dresser. She changed into the bra and a fitted tank top before pulling on a pair of cropped running tights. Upon coming out into the living room she found Peggy sitting on the arm of the sofa, pulling on her socks and running shoes.

Every Sunday, Sadie and Peggy went running up to campus, made a circuit and stopped for coffee at the café close to their apartment. Most days they tried to work out together, but Sundays were a sacred tradition. The girls were silent as they left the apartment. Sadie's hair swung behind her in a long ponytail, the flyaways secured by a wide headband that covered part of her forehead.

It wasn't until they were a quarter mile into their run that Peggy spoke again. "So, where did you go?"

Sadie had been trying to pace herself in preparation for this eventuality. Peggy liked to talk during their morning runs, an irksome habit that Sadie had come to accept. "Hermann's on seventh."

"Love that place, did you get the grilled cheese?" Peggy said through her even breaths.

"That was the whole reason for going."

Sadie's body started to settle into a familiar flow. "So how was it?"

"Amazing. I had no idea that grilled cheese like that existed," she replied, leading the way as they turned a corner to a straight road leading to the football stadium.

Peggy rolled her eyes. "No I meant being with Bucky. Do you like him better now?"

Sadie's heart stumbled over a beat and she tried not to scowl. "He's better," she admitted. "But I'm not about to go singing the guy's praises from the top of the student union."

The further they ran the more difficult it became to answer Peggy's questions, which were bordering on the ridiculous. Sometimes Sadie thought her roommate should go into law enforcement because her questioning style often took a form reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition. Her rapid fire, take-no-prisoners attitude towards all things life was sometimes overwhelming to Sadie who valued her privacy.

"What time did you get in?"

"I don't know, sometime around midnight?" In all reality, Sadie had no idea what time she'd gotten in. She hadn't even bothered to check if her roommate was home before she collapsed in bed.

"Did you sleep with him?"

The question caught Sadie completely off guard. In her surprise she misstepped and went tumbling to the ground with a squeak and flash of her ponytail. Peggy barely stopped herself from falling as she hit the brakes, whipping around to go to her friend. "What kind of question is that? Of course I didn't sleep with him! Where would we even have gone?"

Sadie made her indignant exclamations while inspecting the shallow scrapes on her right forearm. Assured that her roommate was perfectly fine, Peggy shrugged. "His place, our place, you could have gotten a hotel room for all I know."

Once she was back on her feet Sadie glared at Peggy and started walking. "What on earth makes you think I'd sleep with him at all?"

"You're joking, right?" Peggy half-shouted in exasperation, earning the confused stares of a knot of freshman nearby. They were nearing the heart of campus and the first signs of student life were beginning to appear from the dormitory halls close to the main quad. The large trees shading their interrupted run were a welcome relief to Sadie who was already stinging and aching from her fall.

"No?"

Sadie's question seemed to only increase her roommate's frustration. "Look, we both know that I really like Steve but even I won't deny that Bucky is very attractive. And he's clearly interested in you so why wouldn't you have a go with him?"

"Because I'd hardly just have a go with anyone! Especially not smug, apathetic," but Peggy held up a hand to cut her off.

"I'm going to go ahead and stop you because we both know you're interested in him too. And before you try to argue with me let me just point out that no girl as smart as you abandons her friend to climb onto some guy's motorcycle to ride off to god-knows-where unless she's moderately interested."

Sadie mouthed wordlessly behind Peggy's back as the Brit kept on walking. The problem was that Sadie knew her friend was right. Never once in Sadie Reid's nearly twenty-two years had she been thoughtless enough to run off with any guy, much less one who'd spent three solid weeks driving her up a wall. So what was it about Bucky Barnes that annoyed and intrigued her in equal turns?

"There's nothing going on between us," said Sadie with a sense of finality when she caught up with Peggy. "We got grilled cheese. Last time I checked, grilled cheese isn't a gateway food to me falling into his bed."

Peggy just shrugged. "I don't know, that grilled cheese is awfully good." The tension between them broke and Sadie threw her head back and laughed. She bumped Peggy's shoulder with hers. "Wait, is there a gateway food that predicates falling into bed with someone?"

Both girls dissolved into a fit of giggles. "Certain foods are aphrodisiacs," she noted and Peggy wrinkled her nose.

"I don't care what the chemical properties are, there is no man on this planet who can eat an oyster and look sexy while doing it."

Sadie made a face. They rounded a corner, still arguing about food as they ducked into the coffee shop and got into line. By the time the girls started their walk back to the apartment, they'd left behind the conversation of Bucky Barnes and were focusing on Steve Rogers and his inability to read between the lines or, more aptly, the smoke signals Peggy had been sending in his direction.

"You know, for someone so smart, Captain Fantastic is kind of obtuse," Sadie remarked.

"You mean dense as lead? Because short of actually climbing in his lap holding a neon sign in front of him that says 'I want to kiss you' I don't know what else is going to get his attention." Sadie tried her hardest not to smile as she turned her face down to her coffee cup. Peggy's laments were far more amusing than they had a right to be and Sadie took mildly guilty pleasure in her romantic woes.

"It's obvious that he likes you," she noted between sips of her latte. "Maybe he's just old-fashioned."

Peggy snorted in unamused laughter. "Old-fashioned is the understatement of the year. I'm beginning to think he's going to call my dad and ask permission before we go on a date, if he ever actually works up the backbone to ask."

Sadie pondered Steve Rogers and his painfully perfect manners. "So, why don't you ask him?"

Her roommate choked on her sip of coffee, spluttering it out. Wide-eyed as she continued to cough, Peggy couldn't even form the words she wanted to say. With a flat palm, Sadie patted Peggy hard between her shoulder blades. "Me? Ask him out?"

Rolling her eyes, Sadie nodded. A warm breeze picked up and blew a few loose strands of hair across her forehead. Impatiently she brushed the offending hair away and returned her eyes to her friend. "Yes, you," she said slowly and sardonically. "I mean why not? It's not like he's going to say no and maybe he needs a little push in the right direction. And if that fails then maybe you should just sit on his lap and actually kiss the poor idiot in lieu of waving a neon sign. He'll definitely get the picture if you do that."

Peggy's cheeks were a rather funny shade of tomato red and it had nothing to do with their previous run. Hastily, she drank her coffee to buy herself a handful of extra seconds before responding. Sadie didn't mind and continued her Sunday morning stroll, contemplating her previous night while she waited for Peggy to get her act together. Absently, Sadie wondered how Bucky usually met and asked out the girls he dated. Did he like to plan elaborate evenings or go off the cuff, letting the adventure take them where it would? The thought stayed with Sadie for the remainder of her afternoon.

X X X

Sadie had a feeling that Bucky would be waiting for her at The Beanery on the Monday morning following their grilled cheese excursion. Sure enough, he was waiting for her bright and early on Monday and again on Wednesday. As that week blended into the next and into the next, they settled into a comfortable routine. Bucky met Sadie at the coffee shop and then walked to class together.

One day in late September, Sadie realized with a jolt that Bucky ceased to be her thrice-weekly annoyance. Instead, they were casual friends who knew just enough about each other to get along, but not enough to foster anything more. When she ducked into the coffee shop on a particularly blustery Friday morning he was sitting at a small table with a quarter-completed crossword in front of him, tapping the bottom of a pen on the table top.

"Quick, what's a six-letter word for irritating?" He asked, pretending to be engrossed in the puzzle. Sadie rolled her eyes, last week he'd spent most of class jotting down half-legible notes between working Sudoku puzzles and it looked like this week he'd moved on to crossword puzzles. He continued to mutter the clue under his breath while Sadie fished her wallet out of her backpack. "C'mon Sade, you're like Mensa smart, what's a six-letter word for irritating?"

Sadie got the distinct impression that Bucky, who was just as smart as she was, already knew the answer but enjoyed goading her into conversation.

"Your name? Oh, wait, that's only five letters."

Bucky winced up at her with a cheeky grin. "It's way too early for that."

"Well, you shouldn't talk to me before my morning coffee. I thought you knew that by now." Sadie jerked her head towards the counter. "Come on, I don't want to be late."

He got to his feet, shoving the crossword in the front pocket of his canvas messenger bag. Bucky's gray zip-up sweatshirt and t-shirt were fitting for the gloomy weather outside. Sadie had noticed over the weeks that she'd never seen him wear short sleeves but hadn't worked up the courage to ask why. After all, she'd reasoned with herself more than once, he could just like long sleeved shirts. He ran a large hand over his hair which was pulled back into a bun at the back of his head.

"So, what's your opinion on football?" He asked casually as they moved up in the line.

Sadie pulled a look of long-suffering. Bucky was more of a morning person than he had any right to be and he was far more chatty than Sadie expected him to be. As the weeks of their fledgling friendship wore on, Sadie swiftly realized that the best way to handle Bucky was the same way she handled Peggy and gave into his questions. The sooner she answered his inquiries the sooner he shut up. "In theory or reality?"

"You have an answer to both?" Bucky responded, his grin widening.

Sadie curled her fingers around the straps of her backpack and hitched it higher on her shoulders. "In theory it's kind of stupid. Two lines of beefed up guys in pads beat the crap out of each other just to move a ball in ten-yard increments all to score seven fictional points for the glory of thousands of unathletic people the mass majority of which didn't even go to the college they're rooting for. On paper it shouldn't be entertaining."

Much to Sadie's embarrassment, Bucky was still laughing after they'd ordered. "Are you done yet? People are starting to stare."

He waved her off, finally collecting himself. "You are one of the most unintentionally funny people I have ever met," he said and Sadie's scowl deepened. "What about in reality?"

Sadie desperately wanted to leave him where he stood, but that meant giving up her morning latte and she wasn't prepared to do that. Huffing, she fixed him with a frosty glare before shifting her gaze away to the barista. "If you can get past the fact that those poor players are risking permanent brain damage with every tackle, it's really fun. It might shock your delicate sensibilities, but I actually enjoy going to the games here."

"Color me shocked," he teased.

Together the ducked out of the coffee shop. Overhead the sky threatened to split open and pour rain and a healthy breeze blew Sadie's long hair in her face. Sighing, she pushed the offending strands out of the way and fell into step with Bucky. "So why the football question?"

"Steve and I are doing a tailgate with a couple other guys before the game next weekend. It's nothing big, Steve's gonna grill and we'll have a keg. If Peggy hasn't already told you about it yet, you should stop by."

Sadie sipped her coffee as an excuse to buy a little extra time. Peggy hadn't mentioned anything about tailgate to her but that didn't necessarily surprise her. Either her roommate had simply forgotten to say something or Steve had yet to drum up the courage to ask her. Privately, Sadie suspected the latter was more likely. The prospect of going to a tailgate that didn't involve going to a frat house with Betty and Evie was incredibly appealing, Sadie could go the rest of her life without enduring another pregame bash with a dozen or so sorority girls dressed like it was the Kentucky Derby.

"Sounds fun," she said at last, keeping her gaze forward. Sadie did not see the broad grin that stretched across Bucky's face or the way he dropped his chin to hide it. "I'll talk to Peggy and hopefully she's up for it. Though I don't know, are overly-scheduled, rigid, fun-haters allowed to attend?"

This time when Bucky laughed Sadie could hear a note of affection she'd never heard before. "I think we can make an exception for you."

Sadie couldn't think of a thing to say but the silence was comfortable all the same. Bucky steered them into Hartford Hall and as they were sitting down he took his crossword out and laid it on the desk. A smirk tugged at her lips and she took the paper from him.

"Vexing," she said, filling in the clue once she found it. "Vexing is a six-letter word for irritating."

"See? I knew you were holding out on me."

Sadie rest her chin in her hand and smiled at Bucky as she handed the crossword back. Their fingers brushed and she pulled back sharp, a flush swirling in her cheeks. At the same time they turned away. Sadie tried her hardest to fight the involuntary smile that refused to go away and she prayed that Bucky didn't see it.

A X X

The following weekend saw a transformation on campus. Seemingly overnight, the trees changed and Sadie found herself surrounded by a glorious canvas of oranges, yellows, and reds. With the change in the leaves came a fresh chill, bringing a welcome snap to the air. Sadie traded her running shorts for skinny jeans and scarves. The sudden change in her p surprised her friends but they wisely chose to stay quiet on the subject. If Sadie wanted to unconsciously make more of an effort on weekdays that was her prerogative and her friends quickly learned that any mention of Bucky as anything more than her friend was shut down faster than an underage house party.

On the last Saturday in September, Sadie found herself walking through a crowded parking lot with Peggy. A pair of wayfarer sunglasses shielded her eyes from the bright sun and she wore a white scarf that paired nicely with the black sweater she wore over a pair of red jeans. Her white converse tennis shoes were much more comfortable than the stylish flats Peggy wore.

"I still don't understand why you're wearing a dress," she chided her roommate. "We're going to a football game not a date party."

Peggy looked down at her deep crimson and white dress and pursed her cherry red lips. "What's wrong with wanting to look nice? A lot of girls dress up for games," she reasoned.

Sadie rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses. "They're all sorority girls. They have to and let's not even get into how stupid that requirement is. I bet you anything Betty and Evie show up with themed stickers for the game and little red devil tattoos on their cheeks."

It was then that Peggy took a second look at Sadie's outfit and she smirked. "You don't have much room to talk, if I swapped your trainers out for high heels you'd be pretty dressed up too. Any particular reason why?"

"Nope," said Sadie, popping the 'p.' "Custom dictates that you wear your team's colors to a football game and that's exactly what I'm doing."

"God, you're hopeless." Peggy's lament ended their discussion as they wound their way between cars, tents, grills, and lawn games.

Tailgating for a Rhodes State home game was just as important as attending the actual game, maybe even more so. Season ticket holders showed up at the crack of dawn to claim the best parking spots to set up their elaborate tailgates, some complete with enormous grills, televisions, and customized banners. The smells of grilled food mingled with the sounds of music and the din of the masses that converged on the large lots near the football stadium. The girls were bound for one tailgate in particular that Steve and Bucky were hosting with their friend, Sam Wilson.

"Okay, he said they're in the Gold Lot in the northwest corner," said Peggy, pulling up her phone to re-read Steve's text.

Sadie pointed to a corner of the lot nearest the administration buildings. "It's that way."

"Right, why didn't he just say near admin? It'd make this so much easier."

"Because then he wouldn't be a guy," muttered Sadie.

Together, Sadie and Peggy made their way to the northwest corner of the large parking lot. Someone yelled out Peggy's name. A handsome black man waved to them. Peggy's face broke into a wide smile and she tugged Sadie in his direction. As they drew closer, Sadie saw Steve setting up a charcoal grill, talking to a young Asian man she'd never seen before.

"Hey girl! What took you so long?"

The waving man intercepted them and engulfed Peggy in a bear hug. "It's a big parking lot! Sam, this is my roommate Sadie Reid. Sadie this is Sam Wilson."

"Nice to finally meet you." Sam shook her hand, beaming at her.

He led the two girls towards a large pickup truck. "Can I get you a beer? We've got some bottled stuff and Scott just got here with the keg."

"Boo," said a voice behind Sadie, causing her to jump. Turning around, she found Bucky. He raised his eyebrows jokingly, trying his best not to laugh. "Are you always wound up so tight? Or is it just my presence?"

Narrowing her eyes, she fixed him with a glare before grinning impishly at him. "It's definitely just you, I guess you have that effect on some women. Maybe you're losing your touch?"

Sadie didn't wait for his response and instead picked her way over to the keg. Bucky gaped at her before he started and followed after her, rolling up the sleeves of his black and red plaid shirt. Before she could get her own red plastic cup he took one from the stack and filled it up. Holding the beer out to her, Bucky raised his eyebrows humorously. "I'm not losing anything. Now, can you drink this beer? Or will it cause an internal melt down of your fun-hating system?"

It was Sadie's turn to gawk at Bucky, mouthing wordlessly as he kept a straight face. "You know what, Barnes? You can take this beer and," but she stopped when Bucky started laughing.

"I'm kidding," he promised and grabbed another red cup. "I know you're not going to short-circuit," he said as he threw an arm around her shoulder, leading her away from the keg towards the curb behind Steve's jeep and Sam's pick up truck. A large patch of grass ran the length of the lot, cut by the sidewalk a few feet away. Out of the corner of her eye, Sadie could see Steve teaching Peggy the basics of charcoal grilling. A small smirk pulled at her lips and she gently elbowed Bucky's side, tilting her head towards the pair. He shook his head. "If they were any cuter I'd throw up."

"You and me both," she muttered and Bucky chuckled, bringing her to a stop where Sam stood with another brunette guy she'd never seen before. "Sadie, this is Scott Lang. Scott, this is Sadie Reid."

Scott Lang had one of the brightest smiles Sadie had ever seen and he shot a hand out to shake hers immediately. "You're the doctor-to-be! Bucky talks about you all the time!"

"Does he?" Sadie enquired pulling away from Bucky. Sure enough she could see the faintest pink tinge his cheeks and he pointed a warning finger at Scott who still hadn't released Sadie's hand yet.

"He does not," said Bucky firmly and then hastily turned away from them to retrieve a football sitting on the grass nearby.

Scott stayed next to Sadie, looking thoroughly pleased with himself. "He really does. If I didn't know any better I'd say our Bucky has grown up and got himself a crush."

"It's not that bad," said Sam suddenly, interjecting less on Bucky's behalf and more on Sadie's. She shifted her weight uncomfortably. Was Bucky really talking about her? What was he saying? Surely he didn't have a crush, she thought. Sadie was aware that a sort of mutual attraction existed between them, but she hadn't thought it rose to the level of crush or anything close. "Mostly he talks about how smart you are."

Shrugging, she raised her red cup to her lips, trying her best not to look smug. "Well, he's not wrong."

Scott and Sam both laughed. Bucky threw the football in a neat spiral pass to Scott, who caught the ball with ease. He then jogged back to his friends in time to hear Scott's next words. "I like your style Sadie Reid. But I have to ask, can you throw a spiral pass?"

Arching her eyebrows, Sadie debated whether to wade into the game or not. But when Bucky returned to her side and started speaking, he made it too easy to get involved. "It's not hard," he said as she knelt down and set her beer on the concrete curb. Clapping her hands once she held them out and Scott gingerly tossed the ball to her, which she caught easily.

"Bucky," she said in a small warning voice, but he misread the signal.

Without waiting for her assent, he took her hands and started to position them on the ball. "Spread your fingers along the laces." As he spoke, she could feel his warm breath ruffle over the top of her ear. His hands were large compared to hers and surprisingly gentle. More than anything, though, Sadie was painfully aware of how close he stood to her when her shoulder brushed past his chest. When her traitorous heart stumbled over a beat, she snapped back into reality.

"Bucky," she said a little sharper, getting his attention.

"Yeah?" Sadie turned to look at him and found his face too close for comfort.

"I grew up in central Arkansas and my dad was a receiver for Oklahoma State in college. Do you really think I don't know how to throw a football?"

The angle of the sun allowed her to see through his sunglass lenses as he blinked stupidly at her. If not for the cheeky smile tugging at her lips Sadie thought she might have come off insulting, but Bucky nodded slowly. "Southern roots, right, I forgot."

It would only occur to Sadie later that he'd purposely contrived an excuse to get close to her, but that thought was far away when she set Sam Wilson in her sights. Pulling her elbow back, she propelled her arm forward in a smooth motion and watched with satisfaction as the football spun easily through the air. Sam caught the ball and pointed approvingly at her. "Where have you been all my life?"

"Trapped in the biology building," she teased.

The quartet started a friendly game of two on two, Sadie and Sam against Scott and Bucky. Unaware of the rest of the group that was gathering at the tailgate, the group's competition grew more fierce as Sadie used her considerably smaller size to outwit her two opponents.

"You think you're so clever, Reid," teased Bucky as they faced off. His smile was one Sadie had never seen before, infectious and just a touch reckless. "But you are not getting the ball this time."

Sadie faked to his left before returning center, watching as he moved with her. "Hey Bucky, do you know what I love more than being right?"

"What's that?" He asked.

"Proving you wrong!" She rolled past his right side and started running towards Sam, who was working to get around Scott. A shriek of laughter spilled out of her lips as a strong arm locked around her waist. Bucky hauled her off her feet just as Sam launched the ball. All of her loose hair flew past her face as Bucky spun her around, holding on tight. "Bucky put me down!"

Sadie was still laughing when Bucky released her and she started walking backwards towards the ball. "You know what I like more than being right?" He asked, mimicking her southern accent. "Proving you wrong."

Sadie answered him with a flash of her middle finger and enjoyed his shocked face before turning away. Jogging a little ways down the grass lane, she stooped to pick up the football, but stopped when a large hand shot out and palmed the ball, picking it up.

"You dropped this?"

A gravelly voice filled Sadie's ears and when she straightened, she found herself staring at a pair of tortoise shell wayfarer sunglasses and a head of dark spiky hair. The guy holding the ball smiled and immediately put Sadie off. There was a vaguely threatening air about him, despite the way he dressed. Sadie Reid had a knack for spotting frat boys, but this one didn't even try and make it difficult for her. He wore a gray Patagonia vest over his black and white checkered shirt, tucked into faded red khaki pants and topsiders.

"Yeah, uhm, thanks," she said and took the ball back when he held it out.

"You're with that group?" He asked, pointing to where Sam, Scott, and Bucky were now gathered together.

Sadie swallowed and nodded, not liking the tone in his voice. "I am, and I think I'll be getting back to them."

The frat boy chuckled and shared a look with his companions, two other similarly dressed boys. "We'll join you! Those guys are old friends of mine."

Somehow Sadie doubted that very much and she didn't say another word. Instead she turned on her heel and walked back to the boys. In the span of mere seconds the air had gone from pleasant to downright frigid. Bucky's face was stone, set in harsh lines that ruined his good looks. On his either side, Sam and Scott also scowled and Sadie watched in amazement as Sam's hand hovered close to Bucky as if ready to restrain him if necessary. Steve and Peggy appeared, both looking incredibly unhappy.

Sadie veered off course to stand with her roommate and was just about to ask what was going on when the frat boy pushed his sunglasses into his hair. His dark eyes flickered across the group and came to rest on Peggy and Sadie. A chill ran down her spine when he didn't bother to hide the way his eyes lazily traveled down the length of her body before winding back up. On Peggy's other side, Steve's shoulders tightened and Sadie watched in amazement as Bucky's grip on his beer turned white knuckled.

"You two ladies are far too gorgeous to be hanging out here," the stranger said in what he thought was a winning voice. "There's an SDP party up at the alumni house. Why don't you grab your purses and join us?"

It wasn't so much the words he'd used as the way he'd said it that infuriated Sadie. As a woman in science she'd dealt with her fair share of lingering old-world sexism but this was ridiculous. More than that was the blatant suggestion in his tone that the company the girls kept was beneath him and beneath them. In fact, it was so ludicrous that when Sadie shared a glance with Peggy, neither girl could contain their giggles.

"We're good here, thanks," Sadie managed to say when she recovered herself. "Besides, I couldn't even if I wanted to. I left my pearls and apron at home."

Everyone laughed. Even the stranger let out a half-laugh, ambling closer to the group. He stopped at a cooler next to Sam's truck and opened it, fishing a beer from the ice. "Suit yourself. Though I bet with that accent of yours you'd prefer folding tables and such, quaint, company."

Sadie was far too used to hearing slights on her birthplace to be bothered, but that did not apply to the rest of her friends.

"Hey Rumlow, why don't you shut the fuck up and go bother the friends you bought?" Bucky's tone could have frozen water. Sadie gaped in his direction. Recognition lit Sadie's brain as she realized the jackass in question was Brock Rumlow, president of Sigma Delta Psi, rich boy extraordinaire.

"Well, someone's defensive," said Rumlow with humorous sarcasm. "I'm on my way, don't worry. You should put a muzzle on your girlfriend, though," he slapped Bucky's left shoulder and continued on his way, smirking at Sadie over his shoulder. "I'll bet she's a handful in bed, she'd have to be in order to look at you with no shirt."

Bucky's cup fell to the ground, sloshing beer all over the grass. It took the combined strength of Steve and Sam to grasp Bucky's arms, holding him back. Sadie darted to Steve's side. "Bucky stop it," Steve said in a low, stern voice as Rumlow and his buddies howled in laughter while they walked away. "Let it go, he's not worth the trouble."

Raising both of his hands, he waved his friends off before backing away from them. "I'm fine," he promised and raked his fingers through his hair. Bucky cast a glance to Sadie. "Are you okay?"

"It takes a lot more than some douchebag frat boy to offend me," she promised. "You?"

Bucky didn't answer her. Instead, he knelt to retrieve his cup and stalked off, throwing the cup away. Without another word he disappeared on the other side of Steve's jeep and that's when she heard the engine of his motorcycle rumble to life. Everyone watched as he rode away, leaving the tailgate significantly subdued and Sadie hurt and confused.

"What just happened?" Sadie asked Peggy who came to her side.

"It's a long story, one that Bucky should tell you when he's ready." Her words weren't comforting. "Come on, let's get something to eat."

Steve and Peggy went out of their way to ensure that Sadie was in a better mood by the time they went into the game. That didn't stop her from worrying about Bucky and what had set him off so bad.

X X X

Steve invited the girls to come back to the house after the game to have a drink and watch a movie. It didn't take a genius to see that what Steve really wanted was to spend time alone with Peggy, otherwise he would have suggested they all meet out at a bar on ninth street. Intuition told Sadie that Steve wanted to be around for his roommate who was clearly upset by the events at the tailgate.

All throughout the game, Sadie found herself distracted, wondering what would cause Bucky to simply walk out on all of them. More than once she opened her mouth to ask Steve and then shut it. Whatever was upsetting Bucky must be important and Sadie wanted to hear it from him directly. So, when Steve invited the girls over, Sadie said yes with little hesitation. If Peggy thought this unusual, she kept her opinions to herself. After all it saved her the trouble of having to beg.

Two hours after the end of the game, Sadie found herself dressed in a pair of running tights and a loose long-sleeved shirt, standing on the front steps of a small house. If she had to hazard a guess, the house was built in the thirties or forties with a large stone front porch. The house was painted light blue and wore its age well. Less than a minute after Peggy knocked, the door swung inwards to reveal Steve smiling breathlessly as though their expected appearance was a complete surprise.

"Come on in!" he said happily and stepped back, allowing the girls inside.

Sadie trailed after Peggy, hitching her bag higher on her shoulder. It was equal parts endearing and awkward the way Steve helped Peggy out of her jacket and hung it on one of the hooks on the wall. He offered to the same for Sadie and she shrugged out of her field jacket, allowing him to hang the forest green garment next to Peggy's.

The house was the oddest mash-up of two personalities that Sadie had ever seen. Where hers and Peggy's lives integrated seamlessly into their apartment, it was clear as day what belonged to Steve and what belonged to Bucky. The old framed Guinness ads and antique furniture clearly belonged to Steve, a man who always seemed a shade out of his own time. Sadie suspected the video game systems and large leather sofa belonged to Bucky.

Sadie found herself engrossed by a photograph series on one wall, comparing what she supposed were locations in Europe from the past with modern photographs. Behind her, Peggy and Steve started quibbling over his Netflix cue and Sadie, realizing her presence wouldn't be missed at all, slipped into the kitchen.

The square room was small with limited counter space. Old cabinets lined the walls. The fridge was covered in flyers from local shows, a handful of wedding announcements, and take out menus. A colorful assortment of cereal boxes sat atop the fridge and Sadie tried not to smile. She'd bet every dollar in her bank account that the Lucky Charms belonged to Bucky.

A door on the other side of the kitchen opened and Sadie started, turning around. Her mouth fell open in surprise. Bucky stopped cold in his tracks, one hand still raised behind his neck. He'd pulled his hair away from his face into an elastic and he looked as though he'd just woken up. A pair of drawstring pants hung low on his hips and he wore a zip-up hoodie over a black tank. Sadie swallowed hard, he was clearly just as surprised to see her as she was him.

"You're in my kitchen," he said bluntly.

Sadie looked around at the handful of dishes in the sink and the ripening fruit in a bowl on the counter. "Well, it's definitely not my kitchen."

Bucky nodded slowly, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Let me rephrase that. What are you doing in my kitchen?"

She set her bag down on the counter. "Steve invited Peggy and me over to hang out. I was going to put this in the fridge," she explained, pulling a large bottle of sweet tea from the depths of her bag.

"The official poison of Arkansans everywhere?"

Clearly, Bucky was still in a bad mood and Sadie stepped back as he trudged past. He grabbed a plastic cup from one of the cabinets and set about fixing a glass of ice water. "What's wrong with sweet tea?" She asked, mildly wounded by his snark.

"Nothing." Bucky drained half his glass in one go. "Well, enjoy hanging out, or whatever. I'm going back to bed."

Sadie didn't know what prompted her to do it, but she darted across the kitchen, stopping his door with her hand before he could close it. "Wait," she called. Bucky stopped in the middle of his bedroom and turned to look at her. "Are you okay? Wait, no. That's a stupid question, obviously you're not okay. What I wanted to ask is, is there anything I can do?"

Bucky's piercing blue eyes were unreadable as he looked her over. He drank in the details of her from the converse tennis shoes right up to the messy fishtail braid that hung over one shoulder. "Nah, I just need to sleep it off."

"Are you sure? Because I don't want to brag, but I am an excellent listener," she said, offering a tentative smile. "And If you ever wanted to talk to someone who happens to be a good listener, like me, then you're always welcome to. In fact, I will be sitting out on your back porch if you want to talk about anything, or nothing, or even if you just want to sit in total silence. I come armed with M&M's. I'll even share my sweet tea."

"Thanks for the offer, Sade. But I'm really okay."

Sadie shrugged, entirely aware that he was lying. She wanted to be there for him, but had no idea how, other than her usual method. When her friends needed to talk she always let them come to her, they always knew she was an open door.

"Well, if you change your mind, I'll be out there for a bit. I don't want to interrupt what is quite clearly a date," she said, waggling her eyebrows humorously. She left his doorway, destined for the back porch.

X X X

"So, d'you think she'll get him to talk?" Steve asked Peggy as he continued to scroll through the movie options on his TV. The pair sat on the deep leather sofa with a comfortable distance between them. Every so often, Peggy tugged on the sleeves of her shirt or fiddled with the way her dark curls laid on her shoulders. She'd kept Sadie waiting an obnoxiously long time before they left, fiddling with her hair and ensuring that she looked natural but not too much so. Sadie sat on her bathroom counter and ate chocolate hazelnut butter right from the jar while Peggy got ready. But Peggy was even more amused when she caught Sadie checking her reflection more than once, smoothing the line of her dark eyebrows and redoing her long fishtail braid. If that little extra attention to detail wasn't for Bucky then Peggy would gladly eat Steve's TV remote.

Peggy sank deeper into the insanely comfortable sofa and sighed, returning her attention to the mess at hand. "I don't know, he was pretty upset. Not that I blame him. If I were you I'dve let him sucker punch Rumlow."

Steve hunched over, resting his elbows on his knees. He turned the remote over in his hands, examining it thoughtfully. "I thought about hitting him myself," he admitted. Peggy shifted so she could get a better view of Steve. His jaw was set in a hard line, betraying his lingering frustration. She'd never seen either boy so upset before, though she was fully aware they had every right to be. "Nobody should talk about women that way, ever."

God bless Steve Rogers and his uncompromising moral compass, thought Peggy. "I still can't believe Rumlow said that about Sadie."

"I can," Steve admitted darkly. "He's been like that since his first day on campus. You should have heard the things he said about the girls he dated. Actually, I'm glad you've never been subjected to it."

The gentle glow from Steve's TV and the lamp on the sofa table allowed Peggy to catch the disgust on Steve's face. Peggy didn't know much about Brock Rumlow, but what she did she couldn't abide. His antics earlier were just another layer of his reprehensible personality. "I guess it's better Bucky didn't get a shot in. I doubt we'd be here if he was nursing a black eye."

To Peggy's great relief, Steve chuckled. "Oh I don't know about that. These days he's got a pretty one-track mind, all thanks to your roommate."

A mild sense of smug satisfaction welled up in Peggy's chest. "They are getting along quite well, aren't they?"

Steve leaned back and turned his body so he faced Peggy. "Honestly? I've never seen him like this. It's been a nice change of pace from his usual never-ending string of first dates. And I bet if anyone can get him to talk about what happened today, it's Sadie."

He stopped toying with the remote. "So what do you want to watch?" Peggy asked deciding to change the subject lest they spend the entire time talking about their roommates.

"Anything really, I'm not picky," he said.

It took another few minutes before they settled on a comedy that Peggy wouldn't remember the name of later. As they settled in to watch she leaned forward to grab a bottle of water from the coffee table and fell back against the sofa cushions, closer to Steve than before. If he noticed he made no show and appeared completely engrossed in the movie. Peggy scowled, wishing there was a better way to get his attention.

Sadie's words from weeks earlier bloomed in her head. It was time to make a decision, be bold or wait for God only knew how long. Swallowing hard, Peggy slid across the cushions and tentatively rest her head against Steve's shoulder. She had to close her fingers to hide her trembling, especially when Steve froze. Peggy started to panic, what if she'd gone too far? Had she misread the signals and gotten this completely wrong? She was going to absolutely murder her roommate if this went horribly wrong.

"We keep the house pretty cold this time of year," said Steve and lifted his arm to curl it around her shoulder.

Peggy fought the urge to sigh. She'd gotten one step further only to have Steve remain as clueless as ever. Was it really going to take her waving a neon sign in Steve's face? Maybe if she just got up and undressed in front of him he'd get the picture, but that seemed a bit extreme. Biting back a sigh she cuddled into his side, awed that he was made of solid muscle from head to toe. Steve cleared his throat and Peggy was painfully aware of his hand that floundered over her shoulder before settling on her.

More than once, Peggy had wanted to ask Steve how many dates he'd actually been on in his life. It seemed impossible that a man so handsome and kind didn't have women lining up at his door. Peggy also knew that he'd spent much of his childhood and adolescence sick, only to shoot up in high school. Still, would it kill the guy to take a hint? She didn't think so.

Every so often she nuzzled in a little closer to him and smiled when he tightened his hold on her. "Peg, are you still cold? I can grab a blanket."

Her patience snapped. Lifting her head from his shoulder, Peggy shook her head. "I'm not cold," she said.

What had Sadie said? Just climb into his lap and kiss him? Maybe she just needed to tell him the truth. Suddenly the notion didn't seen quite so crazy. Peggy moved to sit up so she had a clear view of his face. "Steve, I think we've been dancing around the subject for far too long and one of us needs to work up the courage so here goes. I like you and I'd like to go out with you sometime."

Steve just stared at her. "I-you-you do? You would?" He stuttered out and then shut his mouth once more.

"Yes! And to prove it –oh hell!"

Peggy took Steve's face in her hands and leaned forward, kissing him squarely on the lips. She pulled back almost immediately only to find Steve gawking at her before he finally smiled. "Do you know how long I've been wanting to do that?" He enquired, taking her hands in his.

"As a matter of fact, I do."

Steve nodded and sat up straighter so he could reach her mouth. This time he kissed her achingly gently, almost timidly as though he feared he was dreaming. "Peggy, I would love to go out with you. Under one condition."

"Name it," she said between small, sweet kisses.

"I plan the evening. Consider it an apology for taking so long you had to ask me."

Peggy threw her arms around his neck and nodded. "It's a deal, Rogers."

X X X

Sadie wandered onto the back porch. A motion sensor light turned on as soon as she walked onto the stained deck, Steve's handiwork she supposed. In the center of the deck stood a round table and chairs. Near the far rail, beneath a small pergola sat an outdoor sofa lined with squashy cushions. Armed with her sweet tea, M&M's, and phone, Sadie wandered to the sofa and curled up in one corner.

A few minutes passed as she immersed herself in a book when the motion sensor light turned off, leaving her in darkness. Just as she started to get up lights overhead flickered to life. Strands of Edison bulb Christmas lights bathed the porch in a golden glow. Sadie opened her mouth in surprise but shut it when Bucky ambled onto the porch, carrying his own glass of sweet tea.

"You said something about M&M's?" As he made his way towards the couch he grabbed the back of a chair and drug it with him. Bucky flopped onto the couch and propped his bare feet up on the perfectly positioned chair.

"Oh, uhm, yeah," she stuttered and reached for the bag, handing it over to Bucky. He tore the corner off and poured a handful into his palm.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Every so often, Sadie snuck a glance at Bucky from the corner of her eye, only to turn away when she thought he would catch her. A vein jumped out just beneath his jaw every so often and he chewed thoughtfully, contemplating what he was really going to say to her. Sadie was content to soak up the quiet and wait for him to speak, she knew from experience that there was nothing worse than being pushed too hard.

"I'm sorry I bailed earlier," said Bucky at length. "Not my finest moment."

"You don't have to apologize, obviously something was bothering you. Or more aptly, someone."

Bucky shook his head. "Brock Rumlow," he said with disdain. "How much do you know about him?"

"All I know is his name is he's the president of Sigma Delta Omicron and he's a total jerk by the looks of it. Betty and Evie know him through their sorority. Isn't he really rich and well connected?"

Bucky snorted in uncharacteristically bitter laughter. "Yeah, his family's loaded. That's how he worms his way out of trouble, by getting his dad to bail him out."

A frown touched Sadie's lips. Rotating her body, she faced Bucky so she could get a better look at him. Grimness touched his usually carefree features, drawing down the corners of his mouth and bringing a foreign darkness to his eyes. "I'm sensing there's a bigger story aside from Rumlow is a jackass, which is a pretty well-known fact."

Bucky dropped his gaze to his lap. He stared intently at his glass as he rotated it in his hands. "Back during freshman and sophomore year of school Steve was in SDO. He and Rumlow were friends and we all used to hang out. Anyway, one night near the end of sophomore year we'd been out at an SDO party and I left to meet up with some other friends and Rumlow was shitfaced. He was yelling at me not to leave and ran in front of my bike right when I hit the gas. I swerved to avoid him and dropped my bike and it drug me all the way down SDO's steep driveway."

Whatever Sadie expected, that hadn't been it. She knew she was gaping but she was too surprised to shut her mouth. Bucky rubbed his left shoulder, still covered by his zip up jacket. Her mind started filling in the empty gaps, answering questions she'd had about Bucky since meeting him.

"How bad?" her question came out before she even realized she was speaking.

"My wrist got twisted and caught on the handlebar. That broke along with a compound fracture and most of the skin on my shoulder came off," he explained, his voice dropping low. "It took two surgeries and a couple of skin grafts and physical therapy."

"And you're still not completely at one hundred percent," she surmised.

"Yeah," said Bucky shortly, darkly. "Anyway, a bunch of people saw Rumlow do it. His dad paid my hospital bills in exchange for my silence and warned that nobody would believe me if I said anything anyway. Turns out Rumlow bullied all of the guys in his frat into claiming that he was nowhere close when the accident happened and made it look like his dad was just being that charitable to pay the hospital bills for some poor kid from Brooklyn."

"Wow," said Sadie. "I pretty much hate him for you, too. I don't blame you for bolting. I'd probably be drowning in a pint of ice cream."

For the first time that night, a small smile touched Bucky's lips. He tilted his head to look at her, blue eyes flashing with an unreadable emotion. "The M&M's are a pretty close second to ice cream." Sadie's stomach turned over. Her eyes darted back to his arm and shoulder. Bucky caught her and grimaced, ending their nice moment. "Don't do the pity thing. That's exactly why I don't tell people. It's also why I got so mad. Rumlow did this to me and he thinks it's a joke. I hate guys like him. I hate that he thinks he can say those things about you and just walk away clean."

"It's not pity, I promise. It's more curiosity. It's the future doctor in me, I guess. And like I said before, you don't have to worry about me. It'd take a lot more than that to really offend me."

Although Bucky nodded, Sadie got the impression that he didn't totally believe her. Reach out she touched the side of his face, turning him to look at her. "I mean it, Bucky. In case you haven't noticed I'm not exactly a shrinking violet."

To this he managed a weak smile. "It's one of my favorite things about you," he admitted.

"So, I don't know a better way to ask this, but can I? Do you mind showing," she trailed off uncomfortably.

Bucky set his glass of tea down and watched her dubiously. "It's not very pretty," he warned.

"It really doesn't matter to me," she said and moved closer so she could see in the light. "Like I said, you can call it clinical curiosity."

Bucky hesitated but then tugged the zipper pull on his sweatshirt and shrugged it off his shoulders. The lights overhead washed golden light over his smooth skin. Compact and lithe muscle ran the length of his arms and Sadie could already feel the flush swirling into her cheeks, she literally couldn't take her eyes off him. Still, it was impossible for Sadie's eyes to not dart to his left arm and shoulder. Even skin grafts couldn't hide the heavy scarring on his shoulder, moving down the length of his bicep. The scarring tapered out just below his elbow and was stark white in comparison to his regular skin tone. More damning than that was the long surgical scar that ran the length of his bicep from surgery. Lifting her eyes, Sadie found Bucky staring intently at her.

Curiosity had driven her to slide closer to him and they were less than a foot apart. A nervous feeling fluttered in the pit of Sadie's stomach, rising up and falling out in continuous succession. Bucky's eyes were still painfully blue beneath the string lights and his usual five o'clock shadow was a little heavier than usual, highlighting the strong line of his jaw. Why did he have to be so handsome, she wondered and scrambled for any distraction.

"It must have been one hell of a compound fracture," she said hastily, dropping her eyes and examining his healed wounds closer. Without thinking she touched the top of his surgical scar, causing Bucky to start when she traced her fingertip down the length. "Titanium plates and screws?"

"Yeah," said Bucky and Sadie knew she hadn't imagined the hitch in his voice. "It hurts every time the weather changes. Did you know you're the first person who takes all of this at face value? Hell, even Steve can't look at my shoulder without flinching."

Sadie shrugged. "I don't know why," said Sadie as she rotated his shoulder forward, allowing her to see the scarring disappear beneath his tank. "It sucks that you went through so much pain but these scars don't change anything about you, they don't change the fundamentals that make up you and they certainly don't detract from your good looks."

It took both of them a half-second to process her words. Sadie kept her face resolutely down, lest Bucky see the tomato red flush that burned her cheeks. From her limited peripheral vision she saw Bucky rub the back of his neck and her heart skipped a beat when he gave the smallest half-laugh. "You think I'm good-looking?"

Sadie would have given anything to crawl beneath the sofa and hide. "Don't be ridiculous Bucky, of course you're good looking and you know it."

Every cell in her body froze when a warm, large palm cupped her cheek. "I didn't know that you felt that way." Bucky's voice was low and smoky. The tone slithered into her veins and leaving an anticipatory feeling behind. Sadie suddenly felt jittery and anxious, desperate in equal turns to pull away and to know what he would do next.

"I don't feel that way," she breathed.

"Well, I think you're beautiful. So I guess we're even."

Sadie made the unbelievable mistake of searching out his eyes. Bucky's intentions were anything but transparent and heat coiled deep in her abdomen, winding tighter and tighter. A switch went off in her brain and Sadie rose higher, moving closer as he shifted to face her. His fingers slid into her thick hair slipping between the smooth strands to span the side of her face. "It's not a competition," she noted and Bucky flashed his white teeth for a millisecond.

"Sadie, will you please stop arguing with me for one goddamn second?" He asked before closing the gap.

Both of them sat up higher as Bucky kissed Sadie. Her eyes fluttered shut but her hands wavered awkwardly to the side. The awkwardness was apparent and Bucky pulled back, looking at her half-raised hands and chuckled. Silently he took one of her trembling palms and rest it against his taut side and filled her other hand with his, lacing their fingers together. Sadie thought she might actually die from her embarrassment, there was nothing worse than a completely botched first kiss.

"Let's try this again," he said and claimed her mouth once more. Bucky settled his lips easily over hers, infusing her with a fresh wave of heat and the faint taste of sweet tea. This time, Sadie's brain and body properly aligned and her fingers dug gently into his side as she gripped him tighter. Somewhere in the deep recesses of Sadie's mind a little voice was screaming itself hoarse, asking Sadie what the hell she was doing, kissing the guy that had spent the better part of two months driving her crazy.

Later she would chalk it up to curiosity but in the moment Sadie knew that was a load of garbage. Because Sadie knew it was unfettered attraction as she unlaced their joined hands so she could drag her fingers along the angle of his jaw before coming to wind around his neck. She wasn't entirely sure when her regard changed and it really didn't matter. Sadie kissed him back, moving her lips in easy synchrony with his. For a handful of glorious seconds her brain shut off and she lost herself in Bucky's kiss, hardly noticing when he removed the hair tie holding her braid together. Nimble fingers unwound the thick tail until he could bury his fingers in her hair, twisting around the smooth waves.

Sadie had no idea how long the kiss really lasted, for all she knew everything happened in less than a minute but her heart was pounding when they pulled away. And just like that, the spell broke and the reality of what she'd just done, what they'd just done, came crashing down on her. Bucky watched her warily as though he expected her to bolt, which wasn't too far off the mark. The muscles in her legs twitched, begging for Sadie to get up and run for it but she forced herself to stay.

Fortunately, Bucky's superior people-reading skills saved the day. "Maybe we should see what movie Steve let Peggy pick out? It's getting cold out here."

Sadie nearly melted with gratitude. "Yes," she said her relief evident.

Unfolding her body, she clambered to her feet and collected the m&m's while Bucky shrugged into his hoodie. When he stood he swung a hand out making to take Sadie's until he remembered that they were just friends, albeit friends who had just kissed. Sadie began to wonder if her face could actually spontaneously combust from all the blood that pooled in her cheeks. More awkward than she'd ever seen him, Bucky swung his hand back to his side and shoved it in the front pocket of his sweatshirt.

"Okay, so movie," she said hurriedly and Bucky followed her into the house.

Walking into the warm house did nothing to assuage the blood pumping hard in Sadie's body. Heat continued to tighten her stomach and lungs, drawing in closer and plunged deeper until she felt it radiate down through her legs. Despite the awkwardness that preceded and followed it, she realized that as far as kissers went, Bucky was at the top of her list. She realized with a jolt that her body was telling her to turn around, pin him against the counter, and pick up where they left off.

Sadie didn't dare look at Bucky because she was almost certain she would see his expression mirror her desire. If she looked at him she knew it'd be far too easy to fall through his open bedroom door and never come out. Bucky led her to the living room where the light from the television screen and a single lamp lit the room. As she walked, Sadie didn't pay particularly close attention to her surroundings and bumped into Bucky when he stopped cold in his tracks.

A squeak of surprise escaped her lips, just loud enough to startle Steve and Peggy who had been in the midst of a very passionate kiss of their own. The couple stared at their respective roommates, eyes wide and mouths hung open just like deer in the headlights. Slowly and with no small measure of satisfaction, Bucky crossed his arms over his broad chest smirking.

"Is this going to be a habit? Because we should come up with a signal if it's going to be a habit."

 **A/N: Peggy being a take charge badass! Bucky putting the moves on Sadie! Rumlow being a jackass! Next part picks up where we leave off, features some delinquency, and quite possibly a melt-down!**

 **I love and live for your feedback! Love the college drama? Love the fluff? Hate stupid Rumlow and his stupid jerk face and stupid jerk frat boy pants? I would love to hear your thoughts. Much love – Kappa.**


	3. Dates and Eggs

**A/N:** **Many apologies for the delays! I have a litany of excuses that I won't bore you with, except to say hopefully the gap between chapters won't be quite as long next time!**

 **So. Much. Love. I just adore your reviews, favorites, and follows. It always makes my day to hear that readers are enjoying this little fic and that Sadie and co are fun to read! Many, many thanks to my phenomenal beta and all-around fantastic human being Stencil Your Heart!**

 **This chapter features all manner of conversations and situations. Warnings for language, alcohol use…and…I think that's it actually!**

 **Part Three: Dates and Eggs**

A steady stream of fizzy pop music flowed from the Bluetooth speaker that sat on the corner of Peggy's dresser. The playlist came from Sadie's phone, a canned package of feel-good music she hoped would assuage her roommate's intermittent panic attack. Even now, as Sadie stood in the kitchen fighting with a waiter's corkscrew, she swore she could hear Peggy's disparaging groans all the way from her bedroom. Biting her lower lip, Sadie pushed the tip of the metal screw into the synthetic cork and finally managed to get it all the way in before she used the flimsy plastic handle of the tool to pull the stubborn cork from the bottle. Making a mental note to buy Peggy a better corkscrew than the one she'd bought at a dollar store in a pinch, Sadie took the open bottle of sauvignon blanc and two stemless glasses to Peggy's room.

The brunette was nowhere in sight but that didn't fool Sadie. In exchange for paying just a little bit extra in rent, Peggy had the master bedroom which included a giant walk-in closet and the door was thrown wide open. Sadie had paused at Peggy's dresser long enough to pour wine into each of the glasses when the woman herself appeared holding up a paper-covered wire hanger bearing a blue and white striped dress.

"What do you think?"

Sadie wrinkled her nose. "Where is he taking you again?" At the same time she held up Peggy's wine glass for her approval.

"The Brass Lantern," said Peggy exasperatedly before she caught sight of her wine glass. Raising a recently manicured eyebrow she pursed her lips together. "Oh Christ almighty, Sadie! I'm about to go on a date, not to a convent - fill it up!"

Swallowing her laughter and a choice comment about Steve Rogers having the manners of a priest, Sadie instead nearly doubled the amount of wine in Peggy's glass. "The Brass Lantern is that French Restaurant in old downtown, right?"

"Yes," muttered Peggy absently as she held the striped dress against her frame, tugging at the full party skirt with one hand.

"Too casual." Sadie perched herself on Sadie's bed, silently congratulating herself on the fact that she could spend her entire night in comfortable leggings and a t-shirt. Currently her espresso hair was twisted behind her head in a sloppy knot that would keep it out of the way while she spent her Friday night studying. "Your dinner is going to clear a hundred dollars, easily."

Peggy dropped her head, sending sprays of chocolate curls all over her shoulders, bared by the small tank top she wore. "Shit, you're absolutely right. What was I thinking? Besides this is a summer dress anyway."

Without warning, Peggy flung the dress towards her bed. Sadie barely managed to raise her wine glass out of the way and duck as the dress sailed over her head and skidded to a stop at the very edge of Peggy's comforter, joining five other rejects. Deep down Sadie knew it was wrong to be so amused by her friend's panic, but she just couldn't help it. Smirking into her wine, she listened to her roommate's very colorful array of curses and the clinking of hangers as she sifted through her apparently endless closet. The song changed to another pop female empowerment anthem by a girl group Sadie couldn't name, though she found herself tapping her toe to the infectious beat all the same.

"Okay, what about this?"

Peggy reappeared holding up a fresh dress to her narrow frame. Inherently there was nothing wrong with the cap sleeved grey dress. The full skirt and modest neckline were actually quite flattering on Peggy. Still, there was something unappealing about the dress for the impending occasion. Sadie glanced at her phone. Steve would arrive to pick up Peggy in thirty minutes and she was nowhere near ready. There was also no doubt in her mind that Steve would arrive precisely at seven o'clock. Sighing, Sadie took a drink of her wine while Peggy assessed the dress before turning back to Sadie for her opinion.

"Well, it depends. Are you going more for appropriate to wear to your grandmother's retirement home? Or more 'come and get it?'"

In any other situation Peggy would have laughed. The fact that she didn't told Sadie that the poor girl was more nervous than she'd ever been before any date. Instead, Peggy gaped at her before scrunching her nose in a confused manner. "More come and get it?"

"I'm sorry, Peg, but that dress has geriatric ice cream social written all over it."

The hook of the hanger clipped Sadie's temple when Peggy threw it towards her bed, not even bothering to see where it landed. She snatched her wine glass from the dresser. It was Sadie's turn to gape as the woman drained half in one go. The situation had now reached near dire straights. Sadie pushed herself off Peggy's bed and moved her hand between the open glass and Peggy's mouth before she could finish the rest of the glass.

"Might I suggest not drinking a third of a bottle of wine before your date even gets here? You're not exactly the world's most composed drunk." Peggy reproachfully lowered her glass and let Sadie pry it out of her claw-like grip. "Now then, how about you tell me what's got your panties in a twist? We've been friends for almost three years and I have never seen you like this before."

"I'm just so nervous!" Peggy blurted out the words as though she was revealing a state secret. "We've been on two dates already and Sadie he's so perfect!"

"He might be too perfect actually," Sadie muttered under her breath so Peggy wouldn't hear her. Placing both of her hands on her roommate's shoulders, she steered her away from the open closet to perch on the edge of her bed. "Peggy, listen to me. This is date number three. Steve's taking you to a really nice restaurant. No broke grad student would take a girl to the Brass Lantern if he hadn't already fallen hook, line, and sinker. Think of it this way - you've already got his undivided attention! The hard work is over and now you can just enjoy the beginning of the relationship."

Peggy nodded while she drew in a couple of deep breaths. "You're right. I know you're right, but I just-"

Sadie clapped her hand over Peggy's mouth. "No buts, you've been pining for Steve for an embarrassingly long time and he's been just as obsessed with you, I've got it on good authority."

"Bucky?" Peggy surmised. "You two talk about Steve and me?"

"Yes, Peg, we spend all of our time discussing at length the budding relationship between our roommates and wondering whether you two will have a spring or summer wedding," Sadie teased sarcastically. At last, Peggy's nerves broke and she smiled breathlessly. "Why don't you just sit there while I go raid my closet, I'm pretty sure I've got the perfect dress."

"Have you really argued over wedding dates?"

"My money's on June!" Peggy's laughter followed her into her room. Sadie's closet, though not as packed as her roommate's, was a treasure trove of expensive clothes that came in care packages from her mother. The tags still hung on the majority of the cute, flirty dresses that were pushed in the back. Reaching into her cache of Ted Baker and Kate Spade, Sadie withdrew a navy dress that had 'Peggy Carter' written all over it.

"Ooh, it's perfect," cooed Peggy when Sadie returned. The top fit like a glove and fell off her shoulders while the structured satin skirt swirled around her long legs, adorned with large-print flowers.

"It's the perfect blend of conservative and 'come and get it.' I mean, I'm assuming you're planning on not coming home tonight, right?"

Peggy raised an eyebrow but her cheeks flushed crimson. "Planning a wild night while I'm gone?"

"Oh yeah," teased Sadie, leaning in the doorway of Peggy's closet, loosely crossing her arms over her chest. "It's gonna be a real rager, just me and my inorganic chemistry notes. I might get really crazy and eat some raw cookie dough while I work."

"Yes, you're quite the rebel, aren't you?" Unabashed, Peggy stripped off her clothes and unzipped the dress to find the tag. Her eyebrows flew up upon seeing the price but wisely chose not to deride Sadie for letting such an expensive garment languish in her closet. "Why don't you text Betty and Evie? See what they're up to?"

Sadie bristled at the suggestion and mildly condescending tone. Without a doubt, Peggy was Sadie's best friend but that didn't mean she always appreciated Peggy's predilection for mothering her. This was especially true when it came to how she spent her weekend nights. "Betty's got some sorority thing she's doing with her little sis and Evie's big anniversary date is tonight. You haven't been getting the incessant text messages about it?"

"I completely forgot about it," muttered Peggy as she shimmied into the dress and stood still so Sadie could zip her in. "I can't believe she's been dating Loki for three years now."

"I can't believe she's dating someone named Loki," groused Sadie of Evie's stiff, pompous British boyfriend. For three years Sadie and Peggy both questioned the appeal of the man whose slick charm never worked on either of them. Obscenely rich and overly self-assured, Loki always loomed over their time with Evie like a rather unpleasant shadow.

"It's a family name, I gather. He's got distant connections to the royal family through his mother or father, maybe both."

"It's a stupid name."

"Probably a product of too much cocaine in the eighties," said Peggy absently. She clapped a shocked hand over her mouth when she realized what she'd said but Sadie was already laughing. "It doesn't matter, Evie adores him. She has ever since they met. She told me earlier this week she thinks he's going to propose."

Sadie made a disgusted face. "Imagine being shackled to him for the rest of your life! Do you think the engagement ring comes in a set with a crisp white apron and a strand of pearls? You know he's not going to want her to work."

"Someone's judgmental tonight," Peggy noted as she affixed a pair of large crystal drop earrings in her ears. "It's what she wants. There's nothing wrong with her wanting to stay home, not every girl possesses your career drive."

"Or yours," Sadie noted. "I don't care that she wants to stay home. I care that she'd do it for him and no other reason. A man is not a good enough reason to do anything."

"Well, no arguments here. But when she calls us tomorrow with the good news, you're going to be happy. And when she asks you to wear a blush pink bridesmaids dress and back-comb your hair, you're going to do it with a smile on that pretty face of yours. But that's completely beside the point. Are you really going to spend another Friday night studying?"

Sadie drifted into Peggy's closet while she continued to fidget with her jewelry and hair, trying to get it to lay just right on her shoulders. "What's wrong with that? Just because midterms are over doesn't mean school suddenly stops for a few weeks. Plus I've got to do something constructive to release some of this pent up energy. I'm going crazy."

"Still nothing from Columbia?"

Even hearing the name Columbia turned Sadie's stomach inside out and into knots. The final days of October were drawing to a close, which meant medical schools would be sending letters to early admission applicants. Sadie had been waiting with bated breath to hear from Columbia Medical School practically since the second she quadruple checked that all of the components of her application had been received. Her entire future was out there somewhere, possibly tangled up in the mail service, tri-folded into a crisp white envelope. Every day for the past week Sadie checked the mail the second she got home, only to be disappointed when she didn't see Columbia's crest in the top left corner.

"It should be any day now. A couple of kids in my microbiology class already heard from a couple of state schools."

"You're going to get in, Sade. And as soon as you do we're going to celebrate! I'm talking cake, champagne, shots, the whole works! Steve and Bucky are already in on it with me; the last time the subject came up they mentioned something about confetti canons."

The bottom of Sadie's stomach dropped out. Fixing her gaze on the pair of shoes she'd selected for Peggy, she brushed her thumb over the pale pink leather and wished she already knew. She wasn't a superstitious person by nature but she hated the thought that so many of her friends were so sure. Everyone Sadie knew seemed absolutely certain that she would get in and if Sadie was being really honest with herself, she was fairly certain too. "Tell those boys that if I see a single piece of confetti, I will end them." Sadie came out and handed the shoes over to Peggy.

"That's who you should text! I bet if you text Bucky he's free to do something."

Sadie immediately disappeared back into Peggy's closet to find a wrap or a sweater for her friend, lest she see the crimson color of her cheeks. The name Bucky Barnes was typically a safe subject in their apartment, as long as Peggy referred to him in the abstract. Early on in her friendship with Bucky, Sadie became painfully aware of the tension between them and the fact that everyone around them knew it. She still hadn't told Peggy about the kiss they'd shared some weeks earlier or the kiss they'd shared in the library only last week. Bucky seemed perfectly content to let their friendship go on and Sadie lacked the courage to bring up the subject with him. In solitary moments, when Sadie was being genuinely honest with herself, she could admit she wanted to be more than friends with Bucky. In one way or another, she knew he felt the same way but neither of them seemed to know how to get there.

"Peggy, it's sweet that you're trying to foist me onto the first available people you can think of, but I'm really fine. I actually do have a bunch of homework for inorganic chem."

"Well, suit yourself. I just don't want you to pass up on having a life."

At long last Peggy was ready and one step short of perfect. There was a knock on the door. Steve was, predictably, five minutes early. "Shit, I haven't put on my lipstick yet!"

"Go, I'll get the door." Sadie shooed Peggy into the bathroom and the small makeup explosion on the counter. Ambling to the door, she opened it to find Steve Rogers on the other side, holding flowers and looking obnoxiously handsome in a blazer and tie. Within minutes he'd said a friendly goodbye to Sadie and whisked Peggy out of the apartment, but not before the brunette mouthed _"text him"_ at Sadie over her shoulder.

And suddenly the apartment was empty. Pointedly ignoring her roommate's advice, Sadie instead set up camp at the coffee table, spreading her computer, books, and notes all over the surface. She ate skittles from a giant bag and worked while she streamed _The Office_. An hour and a half into her study marathon, her phone buzzed.

Bucky: _If Steve can't afford his half of the rent next month I'm charging your roommate for the difference._

Sadie laughed out loud and opened her phone.

Sadie: _Then she won't be able to afford her half of the rent here and I'll end up suffering._

B: _That's a risk I'm willing to take. What are you up to?_

S: _A truly scintillating evening with my chem notes. You?_

Bucky didn't text back, he called instead. Sadie was blissfully unaware of her idiotic smile when she answered the phone. "You are not studying on a Friday night. I won't allow it. Step away from your books and get dressed. I'm coming to get you in fifteen, Dugan and I are going to catch a cover band playing at Fort George's."

"But – I'm in the middle of my," Bucky cut her off.

"No buts. Dugan and I will drag you out of your apartment if we have to. I don't care if you're wearing pajama pants with ducks on them."

"Ducks?" Sadie was already on her feet, disappearing into her room to find something worth wearing. "Wait, how do you know I'm not already dressed?"

"Uh, because I know you. You're running out of time, fourteen minutes and counting. We'll see you in a few!"

Without another word, Bucky hung up. Sadie suddenly found herself staring at her closet, a rather bubbly sensation building in her stomach. The butterflies continued to beat as she took a breath and then dove back into the back of her closet. It seemed that her mother's shopping habit was finally going to pay off.

X X X

Sadie was already awake and nursing a spectacular headache when Peggy appeared from her room the next morning. Rather than needle her about the big date, Sadie downed two painkillers with cold orange juice.

"What happened to you?" Peggy asked, pulling last night's curls into a ponytail. The ring of her car keys looped her finger, already ready to go.

"Sam Wilson, Dugan, and Bucky happened to me," said Sadie, her voice mostly gone. "Turns out I didn't need to text anyone, Bucky texted me and then showed up fifteen minutes later with those two and the three of them bodily carried me out to the car."

Peggy was uncharacteristically silent as the girls grabbed their wallets and left the apartment. Only the promise of apple cinnamon pancakes from their favorite breakfast spot could entice Sadie out into the cold morning. Wisely, Peggy chose not to broach the subject of Sadie's night or hers until after both girls were in their booth, Peggy nursing a Bloody Mary and Sadie recovering with Irish coffee. Sadie lounged on her side of the booth, grinning over the top of her Irish coffee while Peggy regaled her with the overly-saccharine details of her big date and latest developments in her glacial relationship with Steve Rogers. A slouchy navy knit beanie covered the crown of her messy curls, spilling haphazardly over her sweater and Sadie drew one denim clad knee into her chest while she listened.

"This is the third date in a row he's kissed me goodnight at the door! Last night I even asked him if he wanted to come in but he said no!"

Sadie sipped her coffee, curling both of her hands around the green mug. "Did he say why?"

"I guess he had to be up really early for some charity event he's doing with the history department."

"Well, that's a pretty good reason! I'd hate to spend the night with a guy only to have him wake me up at five-thirty when he's got to head home. Knowing Steve he wants to make sure that he can give you his full and undivided attention and all that. Plus I'm sure he wants to do some big romantic thing, with rose petals and candles and all those things you love that I hate."

Peggy groaned and dropped her forehead to the table, nearly upsetting her bloody Mary. "He would have said no regardless. I'm not even asking him in for the obvious reasons! But is it too much to expect that my grad school—whatever he is—would at least want to spend the night with me?"

It was a question that Sadie couldn't answer easily. Discussing Steve Rogers was akin to treading through a minefield. In equal turns Peggy expressed her frustration with his slow pace and her admiration for his gentlemanly ways. Sadie never quite knew which way Peggy was going to swing, but one thing was becoming rapidly obvious. "Have you thought about talking to him about all of this? You've already told me that date number four is tomorrow night, so I'm guessing he wants to be in a relationship with you. It couldn't hurt to have the talk."

Peggy stared blankly at her, just as the waiter arrived laden with plates. Either unaware or uncaring that the high school kid was listening in on their conversation, Peggy drew her self up in genuine horror and offense. "I am not going to ask him when he's planning on having sex with me! Good God, I might as well hang a giant neon sign around my neck that says 'open for business!'"

The waiter turned fuchsia as he set Sadie's pancakes in front of her. She made a mental note to give him a particularly large tip as his flush extended all the way to the tops of his ears. Shaking her head, she let Peggy get the worst of her rant out while she dusted her eggs with salt and pepper.

"Yeah, I didn't mean for you to just come out and ask him what his sex timetable looks like and when he can pencil you in."

Peggy choked on her first bite of bacon, wide-eyed in her shock. "You're spending too much time with Bucky, you never used to be this candid."

"That's bullshit, I've always been like this. It's just that neither of us have had a reason to talk like this in a long, long, long time."

Disgusted, Peggy dropped her head against the back of the booth. "I could have done without the long, long, long part. But your point is well-taken. I suppose I could try and bring up the subject of where this whole thing is headed. Steve doesn't seem like the type to cut and run at the first mention of a relationship."

"I'm surprised he hasn't formally asked you to be his girlfriend, to be completely honest."

"Oh! Speaking of Bucky, care to fill in the blanks? You can't just tell me three guys carried you out of the apartment and leave it at that. Spare no detail."

Over pancakes and eggs, Sadie indulged Peggy. She told her all about their conversation and Bucky showing up at her door, hands in his jeans pockets, wearing a reckless grin and a plaid shirt. Sadie had no problem telling Peggy all about Dugan and Sam picking her up in the doorway, leaving Bucky to grab her stuff and lock the door. But she couldn't quite bring herself to admit that before Dugan and Sam appeared he called her beautiful. She delighted Peggy with a detailed description of the concert, the band, the drinks, and the delivery Chinese they ate at one in the morning at Dugan's house. But Sadie left out other details, like the way Bucky took her hand to lead her through the crowd and didn't let go or the way Dugan interrupted him right before he was about to kiss her for the third time. The conversation about the concert carried from breakfast to the grocery store only to be interrupted by Sadie's phone.

A frown tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Betty's calling me. She never calls." Peggy motioned for her to answer the phone and upon sliding the answer bar across the screen, Sadie tentatively pressed the phone to her ear, following Peggy as they turned down another aisle, destined for granola bars and peanut butter. "Hey, what's up?"

"So we're in crisis mode," said Betty. Even through the phone Sadie could hear her friend's distress. Betty tended to speak half an octave higher than usual when truly panicked. Sadie frowned, stopping cold in her tracks.

"What's wrong?"

"Loki dumped Evie last night." Sadie's jaw dropped.

"You're _joking_. Evie's perfect 'might-as-well-be-royalty' British boyfriend dumped her? Why?"

Peggy halted and turned around, slack-jawed at the news. Hastily she dragged the cart back to Sadie and huddled close to hear the conversation. "Fuck if I know, something about his responsibility for next year or maybe it was something about England or Chicago. She's been incoherent since I picked her up five blocks away from the restaurant."

"He didn't take her home?" Peggy half-shouted in shock and rage, nearly deafening Sadie.

"No, she got up and walked out on him."

"Good girl," muttered Sadie. "What do you need?"

"A full on wallow session at your place, our roommates are being absolutely useless. I need some good old-fashioned sympathy and ice cream. So. Much. Ice cream."

"Meet us there in an hour and have a breakup movie picked out," said Peggy.

Sadie hung up and shook her head still wide-eyed. "Okay, so change of plans. So what do we need to get?"

"Ice cream, chocolate, wine, frozen pizza," Peggy began ticking the list off under her breath as they started towards the junk food aisles.

"Xanax?" Sadie suggested.

Peggy smacked Sadie's shoulder with the back of her hand. "Sadie! I want to console her not drug her!"

Sadie solemnly shook her head. "Oh no, it's for me," she said much to Peggy's shock and belated amusement. "Don't you remember the last breakup we endured? The one where Betty wouldn't leave our dorm for three days straight?"

Peggy paused and bit her lower lip. "An extra couple bottles of wine then." Sadie threw her head back and laughed.

X X X

Incoherent didn't do Evie justice. She was downright inconsolable and distraught. At one point Sadie thought perhaps if they had a chaise lounge Evie would faint straight across it in her distress. Vestiges of the perfectly winged eyeliner she'd worn the night before still clung around her red, puffy eyes. The signs of her meticulous preparation for the big night were there. Evie's nails were freshly manicured, her eyebrows were still filled in, and she hadn't taken the bobby pins out of her hairdo, which was definitely worse for wear. As soon as Sadie could get her to focus, she had Evie sit in front of her on the floor while she worked a little magic with a hairbrush and a flat iron. The repetitive motions must have soothed Evie because somewhere in the middle of _Clueless_ she finally reduced her blubbering to sniffles.

"I can't believe he dumped me in public."

Cautiously, Betty sat up from where she lay across the sofa, exchanging a wary look with Peggy and Sadie. Rather than risk Evie's tears returning if it really was the flat iron, Sadie continued to straighten her friend's hair, working out even the smallest bend in the red strands. When nobody immediately responded, Sadie jumped in. "Dick move."

"Oh you have no idea," Evie said through bitter laughter. "D'you know why? He said he didn't want to fight about it or for me to cause a scene."

"Ugh, total dick move! What was he thinking?" Betty rallied from her initial surprise. "I can't believe he tried to control your response like that, like you aren't allowed to say or do whatever you want."

Sadie traded the flat iron for her fingers, methodically dragging her fingernails across Evie's scalp. She'd done the same thing for Bucky when they were studying for their philosophy midterm together. He seemed to enjoy the attention and actually fell asleep for a couple of seconds before Sadie teasingly smacked him upside the head. Fortunately, Evie didn't fall asleep and It was actually a relief to Sadie when her next words came out as angry as Sadie felt on her behalf.

"That's not the half of it! I haven't even told you _why_ he did it!" Evie's voice shook with fury. "That blue-eyed bastard told me that while dating me over the past three years has been a nice diversion, he had to start thinking to the future and finding a wife who was ready to take on the responsibility of being part of his family."

"Stop, he did not," Peggy's stunned voice summed up the general air in the room. Sadie couldn't even fathom Loki's reasoning; she thought men only did such idiotic things in movies and bad romance novels.

Angry tears sprang to Evie's cheeks and she reached for yet another tissue to wipe them away. "He did, he actually said that he needed to buckle down and focus while he got his MBA next year before joining his family's business and I was too much of a distraction and he didn't have time for childish things like sorority reunions and coming back to campus for football games."

"Oh my God. He pulled a _Legally Blonde_ on you?" Betty exclaimed, furious.

"Sidebar, what the hell does he think your life is?" Sadie questioned, moving out of the way when Evie shot to her feet. She stomped into the kitchen and returned a moment later with a half gallon of ice cream and four spoons. Peggy shot Sadie a horrified expression. The last thing either girl wanted to do was eat ice cream at one in the afternoon, but judging from the fury in Evie's eyes they were better off going with the flow.

"I have no fucking clue! I thought we were both on the same page, you know? We'd talked about the future before and I just figured we'd both go to Chicago together but I guess this whole time he was just lying to me."

"Well, I say you dodged a bullet," said Sadie unthinkingly. Evie plunked down onto the sofa next to Betty staring wide-eyed.

"I thought he was going to propose. I even did my nails in the perfect shade of nude to complement the ring."

She dissolved into tears again, leaving Betty to quietly take the ice cream and shake her head in disbelief at Sadie.

X X X

The afternoon dragged on, finding Evie in alternating emotional states. The highs and lows gave Sadie whiplash and as the sun was setting she was beginning to contemplate making a run for it. The only bonus of the afternoon came in the form of Evie's teary, but hilariously barbed commentary at the characters in the movies they watched. More than once the girls ended up playing chair roulette, doing their best to give Evie their full attention. After a while Sadie got up to shower just so she could get a few moments of peace and take advantage of Betty who took great delight in drying and transforming Sadie's usual mass of messy waves into curls worthy of any prime-time television star.

Peggy stretched her long legs in front of her, eyes glued to her phone screen. Every so often she looked up to see the drama unfolding in the third consecutive episode of _Pretty Little Liars_ that Evie insisted they watch. Sadie, never having seen the show, literally had no clue what was going on and instead opened one of her notebooks to review her philosophy notes when she was certain Evie wouldn't notice or care. Every so often she turned a page only to see a second set of handwriting in the margins. Lately, Bucky had taken to writing her little notes when he was bored. Her mind wandered off down decidedly less academic avenues. She only came out of her reverie when Betty passed her a pint of ice cream.

Then, as though some God somewhere knew Sadie was in desperate need of saving, her phone buzzed.

Bucky: _What are you up to?_

Sadie: _Currently? Sitting on the floor, watching Pretty Little Liars, and fighting with Betty over a pint of Double Fudge Cookie Dough ice cream._

B: _Come again?_

S: _Sadly, we both know I'm not creative enough to make this up. Oh and Evie's crying into one of my really expensive throw pillows, Peggy's texting Steve- possibly declaring her undying love or begging him to save her, it's unclear which._

B: _WTF is going on at your place?_

S: _Evie got dumped._

B: _Ouch. So you're doing the whole girl's night in thing to cheer her up?_

S: _Yes, and it's failing spectacularly. If Evie doesn't stop crying soon I might resort to leaping from my second story bedroom window._

B: _Don't do that._

S: _Awh. I didn't know you cared, Barnes._

B: _My motives are purely selfish. There's no way I'm gonna pass philosophy without a copy of your notes_.

S: _Honesty, such a rare and refined quality in a man._

B: _Well, I aim to please. Why don't you all come out to Hermann's? It's pretty quiet tonight and I promise Evie's ex won't be in attendance. It's just me, Scott, Sam, Steve and Tim Dugan. We've got a pool running on whether Dernier can successfully pick up an exchange student from Bolivia who doesn't speak a word of English or French._

S: _As entertaining as that sounds, I don't know if Evie is up to the rest of the world. She's pretty wrecked._

"Sadie who are you texting?" Evie asked thickly, sitting up slightly. A scowl touched Sadie's lips, there were mascara and foundation stains on her pillow.

"Nobody, don't worry. I'll put my phone away."

Betty leaned over and just caught a glimpse of the screen. A little groan escaped her lips. "She's texting Bucky."

"He just wants us to come by Hermann's, some of the guys are there," said Sadie. "I told him you weren't up for it, Evie."

But Evie sat up. "Hermann's? With the grilled cheese?"

"That's the one," said Sadie. Peggy managed to tear her eyes away from her own phone to watch on with hopeful curiosity.

"I like grilled cheese," said Evie in a watery voice. "Do you have something I can wear?"

X X X

"Five bucks says he tries the whole 'create your own' shot shtick," said Scott in a low voice. Bucky tilted his head to the side, watching Dernier as he grinned at a beautiful girl who sat at his bar. Every so often she swept her thick black hair over her shoulder, shaking it out in a move that apparently meant 'look at me' in every language on the planet. Her bait was working and so far Dernier was actually succeeding with a translation app on his phone and the limited English she spoke.

"Ten says he starts spinning bottles to keep her attention," Steve added from where he stood near the high-top table Bucky and his friends occupied. "Buck, it's your turn."

Bucky turned away from the bar, taking one of the darts from the table with him. He stepped up to the line. "Double or nothing he accidentally ends up offending her with something from that app."

"I'm with Bucky," said Tim Dugan, where he'd just returned from the bar with the next round. "The man's luck can only last so long."

Bucky examined the board, eyeing his target. Behind him his friends continued making frivolous bets concerning the outcome of Jacques Dernier's admirable attempts to woo the beautiful girl at the bar. Her friends had long since drifted off to another part of the bar, leaving her to moon over the tattooed bartender. Shaking his head, he shut the chatter out of his head and realigned his aim. Smoothly, he slid his forearm back and threw the dart.

"Seriously? That's it, I'm never playing with you again." Sam Wilson's exclamation was met with general agreement from his teammate while Steve happily clapped Bucky on the shoulder. Of Bucky's more useful talents, darts happened to be near the top of the list. He'd won more than his fair share of free drinks through the game and it looked like tonight would be no exception to the rule. Bucky's dart sat neatly in the dead center of the board, a good start for his first turn of the night. Raking his fingers through his hair, he returned to his beer and Scott Lang, who was watching a couple of girls attached to a larger group across the bar.

Perhaps in another time Bucky might have found a way to get their attention, to buy a couple rounds of drinks and carry on with one or the other for the night, possibly even a few dates longer. Rather than go that route, he ignored both of them in favor of checking his phone for probably the hundreth time that night. Sadie had gone on radio silence a little while earlier, with no explanation of where she'd disappeared to. This in and of itself wasn't particularly unusual; Sadie wasn't exactly his girlfriend and she certainly didn't owe him any explanation for how she spent her time. She was probably caught up in consoling her friend, Evie, over her breakup.

Before he could really settle, it was already his turn and again and again as the game wore on. The cold beer managed to actually chase away the last vestiges of his hangover from the night before. He'd just helped seal the deal on another win when the doors opened and a quartet of girls entered the bar. Bucky did a double-take.

Peggy Carter's arm was intertwined with that of a blonde girl Bucky had seen before but didn't know well; her name was Betty if he recalled correctly. Behind them a redhead came in, clutching Sadie Reid's hand and looking particularly worse for the wear. Sadie gave Evie a reassuring squeeze while her grey eyes swept through the place before they fell on him. The corner of her mouth lifted and she shrugged her narrow shoulders. Steve beat him to the chase, followed closely by Sam Wilson. A hand suddenly landed on Bucky's back, right between his shoulder blades.

"Who is the redhead?" Tim Dugan asked in a slightly awed voice that Bucky had never heard before.

"One of Sadie's friends, I'm pretty sure her name is Evie," said Bucky, grinning as Sadie tried to pick her way through the crowd to get to him, until she lost out and let her friends divert her to the bar where Dernier was already awaiting them with his best smile. He left Dugan to ogle at Evie from a distance, deciding to take a more direct approach. Peggy stood behind Sadie while she sat on one of the bar stools, one of her sinewy arms wrapped around her shoulders. She laughed at something Betty said, showing off a smile that could temporarily render him speechless. Bucky's heart started to hammer the closer he drew to Sadie.

Peggy saw him out of the corner of her eyes and made herself scarce, drifting away to the other side of the group. Sadie didn't seem to notice but she nearly came out of her skin when he dropped a casual arm over the back of her barstool. A pair of large grey eyes blinked up at him and Sadie's full lips softened in surprise. Bucky had been mere inches away from kissing those very lips the night before for the brief period they were alone in Sam's apartment, only to be interrupted by Dugan.

"I thought you were in for the night?" He enquired, hoping his casual greeting masked his nerves and urge to kiss her.

"Turns out Evie's a fan of grilled cheese," said Sadie. "Thank God."

Bucky chuckled and very casually brushed the back of her arm with his thumb. Though Sadie went slightly rigid under his unexpected touch, she didn't pull away from him. "Drowning yourself in ice cream and girly TV shows isn't your thing?"

Raising her eyebrows humorously, she bit back her guilty smile. "I'm more of a 'commiserate at the bottom of a bourbon bottle' kind of girl."

"Ah, a woman after my own heart," he teased. Dernier only somewhat reluctantly left his exchange student behind; the prospect of waiting on four friendly girls who spoke English was too tempting a prospect. He was happily chatting away with Evie and Betty, taking special care to flatter Evie just enough to get a genuine smile. "How is Evie doing?"

"She's okay, I guess. I've never really had a bad breakup before so I don't have much to go on."

"Seriously?" Bucky enquired almost immediately. "I always figured you'd left a string of broken hearts all over the great state of Arkansas."

Musical laughter spilled from her lips, Bucky's stomach did a somersault. He'd never met a girl whose laugh alone made him nervous, but Sadie's laugh nearly undid him. "Hardly. The couple breakups I've had were mutual. It wasn't like I was expecting the guy to propose or anything."

"You and I have that in common," he mused.

An off-handed smirk tugged at Sadie's lips. "Yeah, I don't really picture you waiting around for any of your ex-boyfriends to propose to you either."

Bucky laughed while he reached around Sadie to take the fresh drink Dernier slid him across the bar. "Real cute, Sade."

Sadie rewarded him with a cheeky smile, leaning ever so slightly into him. Bucky's heart tripped over a beat. The open cardigan she wore revealed the scoop neck tank top that revealed a swatch of her smooth skin and the necklace she always wore that held a man's wedding ring, presumably her father's. She wasn't paying attention to him, instead she watched Evie as she placed her chin in her hand while she talked to Dernier, letting Betty point to several bottles on the bar behind him. Bucky in turn watched Sadie; she wrinkled her nose when four shot glasses appeared on the bar top and she hurriedly reminded her friends that she was their driver. Dugan happily fell on that sword, sliding in to take Sadie's place much to Bucky's amusement. The Bostonian seemed thoroughly besotted by the heartbroken Evie.

"I wish there was something more I could do for her," she said after a while. "I hate that Loki did this to her, that he has this much power over her. Part of me wants key his car or beat his windshield with a seven iron or something equally horrible."

Bucky opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted when Peggy rejoined them. "I'd settle for punching him in the face."

Steve, who came to loiter and bask in Peggy's general presence, tried not to look quite so shocked. For a few more moments the quartet watched as Betty cajoled Evie into a glass of water and set Dugan and the others on a mission to cheer Evie up. Bucky considered whether he could successfully get Sadie away from the group when she sat up so quickly he nearly dropped his drink.

"That's it!" She cried and took Peggy's hand, yanking her off her barstool. "Give us a second, boys."

Skipping over an explanation for her erratic behavior, Sadie dragged a confused Peggy over to Betty and Evie. For a few minutes, the girls spoke with their heads together. Occasionally, Bucky heard a peal of laughter rise from the intense conversation.

"What do you think they're doing?"

Steve's question raised an interesting proposition. Sadie and Peggy were both extremely intelligent women with an arsenal of skills and knowledge to aid them in any nefarious planning. Sometimes just hearing Sadie talk about the things she studied in school sent Bucky's brain into overdrive trying to keep up. He loved her sheer raw intelligence but also slightly feared what she could do when she put her mind to it. That fear manifested itself in the pit of his stomach when Sadie broke away from her friends and approached him, wringing her hands and trying not to smile like a mad doctor.

When at last she stood directly in front of him once more, she took a deep breath. "Bucky, we're friends, right?"

If Steve weren't standing right next to him, Bucky would have pointed out that they spoke daily, hung out almost as often and kissed twice. Outing the depths of their friendship and grey area they existed in seemed like the wrong way to go, so he swallowed the words in exchange for a simpler answer. "Yes."

"And friends do things to help each other," she continued, shifting her weight back and forth. "Like say, when one friend gets callously dumped in a public restaurant by her boyfriend of three years, it's incumbent on her other friends to help her get revenge even if it's childish and petty. And if one of those friends has a friend who can help then that friend really should offer his or her expertise, don't you think?"

Bucky's head was spinning. "Sadie, I literally have no idea what you just said."

"I want to take Evie to go egg Loki's house and I'm asking you for your help," she blurted out.

"You want to egg someone's house and you're coming to me for help?" Bucky echoed Sadie's request, dubiously eyeing Peggy, Evie, and Betty all standing behind her. "Why me?"

Sadie lifted a hand and gestured to his general appearance, eyes darting to his shaggy hair, his beat up Henley and his equally worn out jeans and converse sneakers. The corner of her mouth lifted a fraction and Bucky immediately knew he was going to regret asking that question. "You have a sort of juvenile delinquent look about you," she explained, waving her hand in a funny manner, a full smile threatening her mouth. "Like you've egged a house or two in your time."

Pressing the tips of his fingers together and covering his mouth to hide his smile, Bucky couldn't help the affection that swelled up in his chest. Every time he thought he'd reached his limit with liking Sadie Reid, she went and did something so utterly ridiculously perfect that he fell head over heels all over again. "I'm going to ignore for the moment that you just called me a juvenile delinquent," he said, eyes dancing as a faint flush swirled into Sadie's cheeks. "Are you really trying to tell me that none of you have egged a house?"

Sadie crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows, looking so delightfully stubborn that Bucky wanted to kiss her right then and there. "Betty was the captain of the cheer team, student body president, and organized food drives in her spare time. Evie won state championships in dressage and hunter/jumper competitions and spent the majority of her time at the stables. Peggy won multiple awards as captain of the debate team and participated in the model UN. Do any of these girls look like they're the house egging type?"

"And you? What are your little-miss-perfect credentials?" Bucky enquired. He was going to help them; he was always happy to do anything nefarious to a guy pathetic enough to dump his girlfriend in public. But that didn't mean he was going to make this request easy on Sadie.

Shifting her weight, Sadie shrugged, not quite meeting his eye. "I won the state science fair three years in a row, volunteered at a free clinic on the weekends, and served on student council."

Betty placed her hands on Sadie's shoulders and leaned forward, a wicked grin pulling at her lips. "She was also voted homecoming queen her senior year."

The flush that burned in Sadie's cheeks told Bucky that she was actually praying for the floor to open up and swallow her whole. Bucky tilted his head to the side, having a difficult time picturing Sadie in a floor-length gown, wearing a rhinestone tiara and smiling with an awkward, gangly date. It was all too good to be true, and so much ammunition for their future tiffs, of which he knew there'd be many. "Three years running, huh? What about the fourth year?"

If possible, a tiny thundercloud would have materialized over Sadie's head, complete with itty bitty forks of lighting and rain drops. "I don't want to talk about freshman year," she said in a stony voice that only served to heighten Bucky's amusement. "Are you going to help us or what?"

"I'll help," he said. "Under one condition."

Surprise and suspicion tempered her stormy expression. Bucky couldn't remember the last time he met another human being who entertained him as much as Sadie. "You're going to use the unfortunate circumstances of my friend's breakup to con something out of me?"

He didn't miss a beat. "Yeah, opportunity knocking and all that."

"Fine," she snapped, though Bucky swore her lips were twitching, begging to smile. "What do you want?"

"Can you show me your prom queen wave and winning face? Did you cry? Please tell me there are pictures from the science fair of you standing in front of giant poster boards and a paper mache volcano."

Bucky was already laughing when Sadie rolled her eyes, thoroughly unamused. "For starters, there's more than one condition buried in there. Second, it was homecoming queen, not prom queen. Third, do I look like a crier to you? And finally, give me a little credit; I never made a paper mache volcano."

Already she was motioning for the girls that it was time to leave to go get Evie's revenge. Bucky blindly followed her, still grinning broadly. It was going to be a good night.

X X X

Steve Rogers could not be convinced to join in on the egging festivities and for a split second Sadie thought Peggy was going to lose her spine and back out. It took a fierce reminder of the theme of the night from both Sadie and Betty to talk Peggy into staying with her friends, with the new additions of Bucky, Tim Dugan, and Scott Lang. The merry group of new and old friends set off in two cars. An hour and an adventurous trip to the liquor store and grocery store later and Sadie turned into Loki's neighborhood. Bucky and Scott insisted they park on different streets, just on the off chance that Loki was home and called the police.

A ridiculous sort of feeling bubbled up in Sadie's lungs as she turned down another neighborhood street, lined with large houses that mostly faculty and townies lived in. The only students that lived in Loki's neighborhood were wealthy and almost certainly enjoying a free ride from their parents. Sadie pulled to a stop outside of a darkened house two blocks away from Loki's house. Evie and Betty were thoroughly drunk in the backseat of her car, giggling wildly and passing a flask of God only knew what between them.

"Are they always such ridiculous drunks?"

The warm voice that filled her ear nearly caused Sadie to jump out of her skin. Bucky leaned over the center console to watch as Evie tipped over onto Betty's shoulder. "Just wait another fifteen minutes, then you'll be beating them off with a stick." As she got out of the car, Bucky ducked his head to hide his small smile. "Hey drunk and drunker! Let's go!"

Sadie opened the trunk of her SUV to reveal bags of eggs. The woman at the grocery store raised her eyebrows when Bucky insisted on paying for all of the eggs but one heart-stopping flash of his blue eyes and smile smoothed things over easily enough. Only recently, Sadie had started to notice how other women reacted to Bucky and how forcefully oblivious to their attentions he tried to be. "Let's empty the cartons out," he muttered, coming to join her. "I'm not totally sure either one of those girls can walk."

"Well, we should play car roulette and they can be Dugan's problem. He hasn't stopped staring at Evie since we got to the bar," said Sadie.

"Maybe we should send them around the corner and make a run for it."

"The girls would kill me if I bailed now. I say we get the egging out of the way, foist them on Dugan, drop Peggy off with Steve, and go get tacos at the food truck on South Street."

Bucky let out a humorous moan of longing. "Those tacos," he said, as though speaking about a lover. "You're on, Reid; I'll even let you pay since I bought all the eggs."

Sadie gently bumped her shoulder with his, wishing she knew how to turn off her ridiculous smile. "I was hoping you'd say that."

When at last all the eggs were loaded into the grocery bags, she raised her eyes. Bucky stood close enough that she could feel the heat coming off his body, but his nose was mere inches away from hers. It would be so easy to just rise to the tips of her toes and kiss him. But Sadie remembered that two of her best friends were in the backseat of her car and while they were drunk, they would likely remember seeing their uptight best friend kissing Bucky 'I-see-attendance-requirements-as-loose-suggestions' Barnes. Pushing the thought down deep, she put all of her focus on where it should have been in the first place, on Evie.

It took some corralling but at long last, Sadie and Bucky managed to get Evie and Betty down the two blocks where they met the others. Peggy was in a similar state of intoxication, though not nearly as badly as her friends. Sadie figured the shots at Hermann's had done her in; Peggy had a wretched alcohol tolerance. The brunette unthinkingly swept Sadie along on her arm until at last they stood before the enormous three-story Victorian style house that Loki called home with two other members of his fraternity. Sadie had only been to the house once but remembered disliking the obviously over styled interior.

"Okay, so now what?" Betty asked as she watched Evie. Already the first signs of tears were welling up in Evie's eyes and she crossed her arms tightly as her lower lip trembled.

"You just start throwing," said Bucky and he held out an egg to Evie. "I think you should do the honors."

Evie stared at the egg, contemplating whether or not she should actually do it. But just when Sadie thought her friend might chicken out, she cocked her arm back and flung the little egg at the house, jumping in surprise when the shell shattered on the wall next to a darkened window.

"Can I have another?" Evie asked in such a small voice that Sadie nearly hugged her.

"You can have all you want," said Bucky and he opened the bag for her to take two.

It turned out that egging a house was as simple as Sadie always assumed it would be. The entire group took great delight in calling Loki a variety of particularly colorful names whilst pelting his house with eggs. Evie cheered up immensely in the short time they were there. It was the first time that Sadie could recall that Evie didn't spring to Loki's defense or tell Sadie to stop being so mean about his name. Evie had just thrown one of the last eggs when the flood lights on the porch turned on and the door started to open.

"Scatter!" Dugan shouted.

A hand filled Sadie's, pulling her forward into motion. With barely enough time to lace her fingers with his, Sadie took off running, barely able to keep up with his long stride. She couldn't hear any laughter except hers and Bucky's as they sprinted down the street away from Loki's house. Down the straightaway they ran and skidded around a corner, laughing as Sadie slipped into him and he barely steadied her enough to keep them upright. A rush of excitement filled her lungs and adrenaline pumped in her veins. Running with Bucky made Sadie feel invincible, like nothing could touch either of them. She felt young and reckless for the first time in her life and she loved it. Sadie hungered for more and for more from Bucky.

When they were far enough away at last, they slowed to a walk and Sadie turned back to see who followed them. "Huh, I guess everyone went the other direction," she said, trying to sound less pleased than she really was.

"What a shame." Bucky's deadpan brought a fresh thrill into her stomach. They continued to walk towards the next corner a block away, still holding hands. A comfortable, easy silence settled over them for a while longer. "Hey, did you hear from Columbia today?"

Sadie shook her head, scowling. "No, I'm going crazy and not for any reason except I just want to know. Scratch that, I need to know."

"Yeah I can really only guess how that feels. I've never really thought much about what I'm going to do next."

A question occurred to her that hadn't since the first time they'd hung out. "Is that why you're taking a fifth year?"

Bucky rubbed his thumb gently over her hand. "Partly," he admitted. "It's also partly because I'm not winning any student of the year medals. I failed a couple of classes sophomore year."

"You're kidding. Why?"

"Well, it's funny but some professors actually notice when you don't show up to class except for exams."

Sadie wanted to be surprised but she really wasn't. "Yeah they're finicky like that. But why? I mean you're so smart, you could be moved on by now."

Bucky shrugged, staring up at the velvety night above them. A chill in the air cooled Sadie's hot cheeks that had very little to do with her recent getaway. At last, he formed a coherent thought. "Yeah I guess, but then I wouldn't have met you."

X X X

"That is a terrible line!" Sadie exclaimed through a laugh. Bucky grinned at her. He knew it was a bad line but he didn't really care. It was hard to care about anything on a night so strange and wonderful.

"Yeah," he agreed, smiling down at her. "Did it work?"

"Maybe." She refused to look at him though he could see the corners of her mouth pull upwards. The cool night surrounded them with quiet and though they walked through the middle of a neighborhood Bucky felt entirely isolated with Sadie. The small utterance, the little 'maybe' was just as good of an answer as he would ever get from Sadie. She preferred to tease him and play into his own sarcastic nature which Bucky loved. There would never be a better time than now, he thought.

Bucky gave Sadie's hand a gentle tug, urging her into him. A knowing smile faded from her lips as she came into him. Automatically her free hand came to his chest, sliding up and leaving a trail of fire in its path. Beneath the glow of the nearby streetlights, Sadie's hair shone and she was absolutely stunning. Bucky wanted to see her in this light all the time, a half-illuminated figure with molten silver eyes and inviting lips.

He wanted to spend more time memorizing her perfect mouth but found he couldn't because he was already kissing her. Bucky had no idea who kissed who but it didn't matter in the slightest because Sadie's full lips were on his and her body was so close he could feel the heat radiating from her into him. She sent waves of electrifying current into him with each subtle and not-so-subtle movement of her mouth against his. Bucky kissed her back just as intently, matching her slow and caressing actions. He felt the curl of her fingers around the lapel of his jacket and her denim-clad knee brushed against his, lighting his nerves up.

Unlike their first awkward and stilted kisses, this one was more confident and assured Bucky of Sadie's affections. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been this wholly and completely attracted to someone - possibly it was never. Winding one of his arms around her waist, Bucky held her in place as he stepped into her, bringing her body flush against his. His jeans immediately became a problem as he felt the press of her small breasts against his chest, pushing deeper against him with each breath she took between kisses. Bucky's grip on her tightened, desperate to maintain any semblance of control. A soft moan escaped her lips when their hips inadvertently bumped and Bucky's mind completely derailed. A small gasp of surprise exploded between their mouths when he turned her around to back her up against the side of her SUV.

"What's gotten into you?" She asked breathless when they came up for air.

"You have," he muttered quite simply before claiming her mouth once more.

Sadie's hands dropped down to his sides where she slid into the gap between his jacket and shirt. One of her knees slipped between his legs, brushing against his inner thigh. Bucky's previously jumbled mind went entirely blank. Desire welled up in his chest and he returned to kissing her, his tongue moving past her parted lips to meet hers. His fingers dove into her hair and fell to her shoulders and went to her waist and back; any place she would let him touch her was good for Bucky. The lower half of his body was begging him to guide her into the backseat of her own car where they had more privacy. Bucky tried to beat that voice away but then Sadie's hands worked beneath the hem of his Henley.

"You have to stop that," he muttered, voice tight when her curious palms flattened over his bare skin. The tips of her fingers careened around his sides and moved higher up his back, leaving a trail of fire in their wake.

"Why? Doesn't it feel good?" Sadie asked and the mild concern was evident in her voice.

"It feels amazing and that's the problem," he muttered and his hand fell flat against the window next to her head when she lightly dragged her fingernails down the length of his spine. Bucky's mind grasped feebly at straws for any explanation as to why Sadie's touch did such profound things to him. At his words, however, Sadie withdrew her hands and he instantly regretted it.

Bucky's idiotic moment of rationality served to jolt Sadie back into awareness too. Suddenly, she seemed to realize the precarious position they were in. Her back was flat against the side of her SUV and Bucky stood flush against her, one hand clutching her hip hard enough to leave a bruise over the bone.

"Maybe we should stop," she whispered, her voice soft and smoky. Bucky hoped the subtle reluctance in her tone suggested she didn't actually want to stop because stopping was the last thing on his mind.

"Yeah," he said and started to pull back. But then she looked at him through her eyelashes, lips parted in soft surprise at their reckless behavior. It was just too much for Bucky. She was too much for him and he swooped back down, stealing her lips once more. Sadie's hips pushed forward as she moved away from the car enough to fish her keys out of her back pocket so she could unlock her car. Laughter punctuated the breathy kisses that he planted on her as both of them groped for the door handle to the back of her SUV. The door opened and just as Sadie fell inwards onto the back bench, a shriek of laughter pierced the still air. They sprang apart, Sadie leaping from the backseat and shutting the door.

"Sadie!" A voice drifted from around a street corner as she desperately combed her fingers through her hair to bring order to it. Bucky walked away a few paces, letting the cool air wash over his hot face as he attempted to get himself under control. "Sadie Reid!"

Evie and Peggy appeared, arm-in-arm cackling with delight. "I'm going to murder my roommate," Sadie muttered under her breath, checking her reflection in the window once and making a despairing face. "Thank God she's drunk."

"Sadie Reid and Bucky Barnes!" Evie crowed as the girls drew closer and closer. "You know you two make a very cute couple!"

"The cutest!" Peggy agreed, half-hanging form Evie with an arm slung over the blonde's shoulder. A wicked light danced in her already swimming brown eyes. "Steve and I talk about it all the time, how perfect you are together!"

Betty and Evie made obnoxious 'ooh' and 'ahh' sounds serving to heighten Sadie's annoyance. Behind her, Bucky choked on a small laugh. "Peggy, you are the best drunk on the planet," he teased and opened the backseat of Sadie's car for the three girls. Betty winked at Bucky before she managed to ungainly stuff herself into the car, followed by Evie who was giggling maniacally and clutching the flask Dugan had been carrying earlier.

Sadie pinched the bridge of her nose. The writing was already on the wall as Peggy fell against the side of the car with a whoop of laughter. A long night of taking care of her friends was how she figured the night would end, though she'd hoped for a better outcome. Her lips still tingled and her heart had yet to slow down. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Bucky trying to help Evie into the car, perfectly unruffled by the interruption. "Where are the others?"

Peggy's eyes were already bleary when she tried to focus on Sadie. "No idea," she muttered. "I couldn't remember where Dugan parked his car so we came here."

At least she could string a coherent sentence together, though she'd be nursing a truly spectacular hangover in the morning. Sadie placed her hand on Peggy's shoulder and helped her into the car. "Well I'm sure they'll be okay, let's get you three home before you vandalize another house or set something on fire."

When Sadie shut the passenger's side door she found Bucky waiting at her door, hand poised on the handle. "Looks like tacos are going to have to wait."

Disappointment flashed in his eyes, mirroring her own frustrations. Both of them knew perfectly well they weren't destined to get tacos and Sadie's friends had interrupted something else entirely. "I think the tacos can wait until Friday night? At seven?"

Bucky couldn't have been any smoother and for once Sadie decided to swallow her usual teasing reply. "Seven is perfect, don't be late."

When he smiled in response his nose crinkled and his blue eyes betrayed his pleasure; Sadie's knees nearly buckled but she managed to hold herself together. "I wouldn't dream of it," he replied, squeezing her hand before he opened her door, the consummate gentleman.

X X X

The next morning Bucky woke up to find Steve outside of his room in the kitchen, brewing a pot of coffee and awaiting his account of the previous night. As it turned out he'd been the recipient of a stream of amusing text messages from a very drunk Peggy, including a rather lengthy monologue about why Sadie and Bucky were idiots who needed to get their shit together and date. It was then that Bucky remembered he did have a date with Sadie on Friday, something that Steve smugly congratulated him on, firmly cementing Bucky's new policy of keeping his personal life to himself.

Sunday melted into Monday and the week crawled on painfully slowly. Despite insisting that he wouldn't meddle, Steve constantly butted his head into Bucky's life, asking about the plan for the date, the time, what Bucky was going to wear and even offered the keys to his jeep so Sadie didn't have to suffer the indignity of riding on the back of Bucky's motorcycle. Bucky narrowly avoided the rather crude explanation that the motorcycle had its particular advantages where Sadie was concerned and instead let Steve bully him into buying a new shirt and making reservations at a nice restaurant away from the main bar district in town. The minutes and hours ticked down and even Bucky could admit to himself that he'd never looked forward to a date more than this one.

On Thursday evening he settled down in the living room with cold Chinese leftovers and one of his psychology textbooks to get his homework out of the way ahead of the weekend. Bucky was never one for doing his homework in advance, but when Sadie casually mentioned in class that she was trying to get as much done as she could Bucky decided to take her cue. If, by some miracle, she actually cleared her weekend schedule then Bucky didn't want to miss an opportunity because of school because he knew Sadie would ask and he knew she would make him do whatever work he had. Steve was mercifully absent, having taken off for a meeting with his advisor and a study group, which left the house completely empty. For a long while he worked in easy silence over cold sesame noodles until his phone rang.

Dernier's name flashed across the screen, which wasn't totally unusual for a Thursday night. Bucky let the call go to voicemail and continued plowing through the end of his reading. The phone rang again. Scowling, Bucky answered it with the hope that Dernier would give up.

"Hey, I'm kind of busy right now," he said before Dernier could say a word.

"Yeah, I think you need to come down and pick up Sadie."

Bucky would have been less surprised if Dernier said the bar was on fire. "Uh, why? Is she okay? Where's Peggy?"

"Don't know, Peggy isn't answering her phone and Sadie won't give me the numbers of her other friends. She's really drunk, man. I've got her keys but I don't even want to put her in a cab. I keep asking her if she wants someone to come get her and she finally said to call you."

Books and sesame noodles forgotten, Bucky was already on his feet. "I'll be there in ten."

X X X

The drive to Hermann's seemed to take forever. Finally Bucky pulled into the bar parking lot and put his bike right next to Sadie's car. Jogging up the steps, he made his way inside to find the bar decently crowded. A couple of stools were open near the end of the bar where a lone brunette sat.

Bucky sat down next to Sadie. A curtain of her dark hair hung over her shoulder, shielding her face from his view. Two upturned and empty shot glasses sat on the bar next to an empty beer bottle and her hand was wrapped around another, her fingers capped with an immaculate dark purple manicure. Bucky recognized several bracelets on her wrist, including the ones she'd stolen from his house the last time she'd been over. Sadie made no movement to indicate that she was aware he was even on the same planet, much less sitting next to her.

Frowning, Bucky reached over and swept her hair away from her face. His fingers slipped easily through the silky curls that tumbled down her narrow shoulder. Sadie wore the pale gray sweater that he liked so much and her father's wedding ring hung from a long silver chain, ever present around her neck. From her profile, Bucky could see that Sadie had been crying. The skin beneath her eyes was puffy and he could see miniscule patches of smudged mascara along her lash line. Sadie's lips trembled, but she didn't look at him. Instead, she stared blankly down into her red ale.

"Sadie?" Bucky asked, mentally kicking himself for his thoroughly unimpressive opening line.

"Hey," she said hoarsely, her body starting as if surprised by her decision to speak.

"What are you doing?" Bucky enquired, drawing out his words to convey his surprise.

Sadie sighed and then took a long draw of her beer, draining half of the remaining liquid in her pint. Against his will and better judgment, Bucky's eyebrows flew up in shock. Since when did straight-laced Sadie Reid know how to chug a beer?

"I'm getting drunk," she said bluntly, her words hard and forced. "Drunk, drunk, drunky druuuunk," she added in a sing-song voice under her breath.

"I can see that," said Bucky slowly. Sadie drained the remainder of her beer, upended the pint glass and slid it to join her other empty victims. "Any particular reason you're getting hammered at," Bucky double-checked his watch. "Seven-forty five? At Wilson's? On a Thursday night? We have Philosophy tomorrow morning at eight-thirty."

Sadie waved him off with a limp hand. "Oh, fuck philosophy! Who gives two shits about a whole bunch of old dead guys waxing poetic about the life and what it all means."

It was official, thought Bucky as he watched Sadie signal to Dernier. Sadie Reid was three-sheets-to-wind-going-to-hate-herself-in-the-morning drunk. Under any normal circumstance, Bucky would happily drink to Sadie's newfound flippancy towards school. But he knew better. He knew that even for classes she hated, Sadie always put in one hundred and ten percent of her effort.

Dernier approached, looking incredibly dubious but relieve that help had finally arrived. Bucky cleared his throat. "Sade, maybe you should drink some water?"

"No," she snapped, finally turning to look at him. Dernier's eyes snapped between the pair of them, unsure of who he should listen to. "I'm not here to drink water, I'm here to get drunk. And the way I see it you have two choices. If you want to judge me and try to make me drink water then you can just go crawl into a hole and die. But if you want to stay then you drink."

"Well, you drive a pretty hard bargain," said Bucky, trying his best not to smile. "But considering I've never actually seen you drunk, I think I'll stick around."

"Good," said Sadie pointedly.

Bucky took the liberty of ordering the next round along with two waters in the hopes that he could eventually cajole Sadie into switching. Dernier returned in short order with two beers and he gave Bucky a glare that plainly said Bucky was completely responsible whatever happened next. Waving his friend off, Bucky settled in to cajole Sadie into talking, he suspected she would stop drinking like a fish if he could get her to talk. "So, what are we drinking to?" Bucky asked, holding his glass aloft.

Sadie turned her body so she was facing him. With one of her legs tucked up beneath her body on the barstool, her knee pressed gently into the side of his leg, Bucky wished that this simple touch alone didn't so easily undo him. If Sadie had any idea the sway she had over him, Bucky doubted she'd be so cavalier.

"To failure," she slurred slightly, and a darkness Bucky had never heard before touched the edges of her voice. "Specifically to me being a total failure."

Well, Bucky hadn't expected to hear that.

"You are anything but a failure," said Bucky seriously over the rim of his pint glass.

"Yeah, well, tell that to Columbia medical because clearly they didn't get the memo," said Sadie bitterly, unable to meet his eyes. Shame burned in her words and Bucky hated that she stared down at the bar top, her gaze faraway and empty. At the same time, she reached for an envelope that Bucky hadn't seen on her other side. She barely touched it as she slid it across the counter to him, as though the very idea of handling the letter disgusted her.

Bucky stared at the letter with the open flap. Gingerly, he turned the letter over to see the seal for Columbia University Medical School. His stomach and heart sank.

"Go ahead, read it," she said.

Already, Bucky knew what the letter was going to say. But that didn't diminish the punch to the gut he got upon reading the first two sentences.

"Sadie, I'm so sorry," he said, meaning every single word and then some. Now her intense drive to get blackout drunk made perfect sense. If Bucky had applied early decision to Columbia Med and gotten rejected, he'd be under the table too. "But I don't think this means you're a failure."

Anger crackled around Sadie. She raked her fingers through her long hair, glaring at the letter. "I'm not sure how else to take it," she murmured. "I just don't understand."

"Maybe it was a really tough decision, they probably only take so many students. But you can still apply to other schools, right?"

Sadie shrugged, drawing one of her knees up to her chest. "I can," her lower lip began to tremble again. "But Columbia was the plan. It's always been the plan since day one. Graduate top of my class in high school. Graduate top of my class from undergrad. Go to Columbia medical. Internal medicine residency at a top hospital. Become an oncologist."

"Okay, so do all of those things and just trade Columbia with another one of the dozen great schools I know you're going to get into," he said encouragingly. Bucky had grown accustomed to his sharp, confident, happy Sadie. Seeing her so downtrodden was just wrong. Where was her wicked smile and witty barb about his appearance or drink of choice?

For a long time, Sadie said nothing. She drank her beer and flipped the rejection letter over in her hands. More than once, tears welled up in her eyes as she fought for her composure. Bucky knew she'd never let him do so in public, but he wanted to hold her against him so she could cry it all out. She sniffled and rested her head in her hands.

"I did everything right," she whispered, her words raw and betraying the destruction of her confidence. "I had everything going for me. Grades, research, extracurriculars, community service, a killer essay, a great interview," she rattled off. "I don't understand what I did wrong."

And it was then that Bucky made an unusual connection. Much the same way he'd never been rejected by a girl, Sadie Reid had never been rejected academically in her entire life. If Bucky had to wager a guess, she'd probably gotten into every college she applied to four years ago.

"You didn't do anything wrong," said Bucky and he dared to reach out and take her hand. He closed his fingers over hers, stunned when she returned the gesture. "So Columbia is full of a bunch of dicks," he reasoned. "There are better schools out there."

For the first time since he sat down, Sadie cracked the shadow of a smile. "My dad went to Columbia Med."

"And something tells me he wouldn't be any less proud if you go to Harvard or Yale or Stanford or wherever."

"I know," said Sadie. "I know you're right. But my whole life I dreamed about Columbia and I got _this_ close," she held up her thumb and forefinger, the pads a fraction apart for emphasis.

"Yeah, that sucks," Bucky admitted. "You have every right to wallow. But Sade, you have to promise me that you won't let this get to you. Promise me that tomorrow you'll start working on your Plan B, C, D and the whole rest of the fucking alphabet? You can't tell me you didn't have any backup plans."

"Stanford," she admitted. "Johns Hopkins and Penn."

"See? Stanford is just as uppity and ivy covered as Columbia," teased Bucky.

Sadie smiled in earnest now and gently bumped his shoulder with hers. "Thanks."

Bucky couldn't help himself when she dropped her head on his shoulder. Bringing his arm around her, he rubbed her shoulder with his thumb. "Happy to help. Now can I convince you to drink some water?"

She held out her hand for the glass. They remained that way until Sadie drained both glasses of water. "I'm sorry I'm such a basket case," Sadie said. "I just got the letter and I freaked out. Everything seemed so hopeless, like I wasn't going to get into medical school and I'd end up living in a box, burning my overdue student loan statements to keep warm."

Bucky threw his head back and laughed. "As entertaining as that sounds, you need to stop worrying. You're going to get in. And when you graduate, I'm going to be there with a giant sign that says 'I told you so.'"

Sadie chuckled, looping her arm through his. "Promise?" She asked.

"I promise. I'll even write something really inappropriate for all the people behind me to read. Now how about I get you home?"

Sadie nodded. "Okay."

Bucky paid the tab over Sadie's objections and took her car keys from Dernier with the promise that he'd take a cab back to his bike before the bar closed. Drunk Sadie was a mess of soft limbs and Bucky had to keep his arm locked around her waist to help her across the floor and outside. She collapsed against him at the bottom of the steps clutching her rejection letter.

"Maybe I should burn it," she muttered, staring at the offensive envelope once Bucky finally got both of them in the car.

"Nah, you should keep it," he replied and took the envelope away before she could rip it into pieces. "A little failure is good for you and it'll make you appreciate your acceptance letters that much more. Keep it as a reminder."

"As a reminder of what? That I'm not good enough?"

Bucky shook his head, keeping his eyes on the road. "That sometimes life's shitty but you get through it anyway." Unbidden to him, he rubbed his left shoulder, feeling out the scars beneath the fabric of his waffled Henley.

Sadie slumped down in her seat. "You're so fucking smart," she mumbled. "Sometimes I think you're smarter than me."

Bucky chuckled. He knew she hadn't meant the compliment in such a backhanded way but it was endearing all the same. Reaching across the console, he took one of her hands in his. "I sincerely doubt that, but right now I've definitely got the upper hand."

She laced their fingers together and remained silent for the rest of the drive. The windows of Sadie's apartment were dark when they pulled up and Bucky helped Sadie up the stairs and into her apartment. He trailed after her through the living room and into the kitchen where she collapsed on a chair at the breakfast table. It took a bit of rifling but he finally found a glass which he filled with water and retrieved the Advil from her bathroom cabinet. As soon as she downed the water and Advil she disappeared into her room to change clothes.

"What are you doing?" Sadie asked when she reappeared from her room a moment later, tugging a long sleeved shirt over a pair of small cotton shorts. Bucky hastily looked away from her lithe figure and back to his phone.

"Getting a cab ride back to the bar. I don't want to leave my bike there overnight."

Bucky didn't see her draw closer and but he froze when her fingers touched his sides. "Don't go." Her voice was soft and raspy, but he could smell the alcohol on her breath which reminded him of her drunken state and quelled his desire just enough. "Stay the night."

Sadie rose to the tips of her toes and, gripping his sides tightly, brushed her lips along the underside of his jaw. The result was shocking and caused Bucky to pull away from her, wariness flashing in his eyes. But Sadie was just drunk enough to miss the cue and she twisted his shirt in her hands, making to bring him back to her.

"I can't," he said, absolutely pained when she moved to kiss him again.

"Why not?" She breathed, sending his cells and senses absolutely haywire. Sadie knew exactly what she was doing to him and there was very little he could do to hide the signs, but he knew better. He knew she would regret it and so would he. "Just stay the night, I'll take you back to get your bike in the morning before class."

Bucky strongly suspected Sadie wasn't going to make it to class the following morning but that was completely beside the point. "Sade, you're drunk," he rasped while trying to extricate himself from her. He now knew what walking on a high wire felt like because he knew one misstep and everything he'd worked so hard for with Sadie would come tumbling down.

"I'm not that drunk," she replied, her lips brushing past a pulse point. The result sent him through the roof and forced him to pull away. Hurt flashed in her grey eyes and Bucky could see that things were about to go terribly sideways.

"Drunk is drunk," he replied, holding her at arm's length. "And I'm a lot of things but I'm not that guy and I know that sober you knows that."

A frown pulled at her lips and his stomach sank when she stepped back, knees wobbling slightly. "So, you don't want to."

"Jesus, Sade. Of course I want to but not when you're drunk. Let's just wait until tomorrow night."

Immediately he could see he'd said the completely wrong thing because any good will on her expression gave way to anger. Her dark eyebrows snapped together. "Oh, so you think I'm just going to give it up tomorrow? You think that being a good guy tonight automatically means you've earned it?"

Reasoning with drunk Sadie was apparently not an option. Raking his fingers in frustration, Bucky let his temper get the better of him and he spoke louder than he intended. "That's not what I meant at all! I'm not assuming anything! All I know is you're drunk, I don't want to do something both of us will regret, and I think maybe you should sleep this off!"

"You know what? You're right," she snapped, taken aback at his change in demeanor. Without another word she marched to the other side of her apartment, leaving Bucky standing in her kitchen, hopeless to keep up with the leaps and bounds in her inebriated logic. Hesitantly he tread into the living room just in time to see her fumbling with the locks on the front door.

"Sadie, come on," he said emphatically, hoping he could right her back on course. "Just sit down for a few minutes and I can leave when we're both calm."

"No, I think you need to leave now," she responded angrily and wrenched the door open.

Bucky didn't move. "Look, I get that you're drunk and you're already upset but I don't want to screw this up. Will you please sit down?"

Sadie didn't back down either but when she spoke he could hear the frustrated tears beginning to come on. "Bucky, just get out."

And sure enough, the tears spilled over her lower eyelids and onto her cheeks. Deep down, Bucky knew the root of her tumultuous emotions weren't really about him. But even though Bucky knew her behavior was all tied to her rejection letter, it was still personal to him. He shoved his phone in his pocket. "Fine, I'll go." Even he cringed at how wounded he sounded. Sadie wiped the angry tears off her cheeks. Bucky paused just outside of the door. "I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

Her answer came in the form of her door slamming in his face. On the other side, Bucky could hear her dissolve. He raised his hand to the door handle, prepared to open it and talk some sense into her but not even hyper-rational Sadie could be reasoned with now. Instead he would have to rest his hopes on Peggy and her ability to talk Sadie off her ledge. It had been a mistake in the first place, he thought, jogging down the steps to the parking lot where he could call a cab.

The lights in her apartment stayed on for just another minute or two when Bucky reached the bench that sat outside of her building. Sitting down hard, he tried to put his thoughts in order but found he couldn't. Instead he called a cab and resigned himself to waiting in the chilly night, hoping that he hadn't just let his shot slip through his fingers.

 **A/N: Needless to say, I think Sadie is going to be mortified in the morning, which is exactly where we'll pick up in the next part!**

 **Comments? Questions? Rants? Raves? I love any and all thoughts! Much love - Kappa**


End file.
